


Bones Surrounding the Heart

by SearchingWolf



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Chronic Illnesses, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Friendship to Lovers, Housemates, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mating Cycles, Medical, Monsters in Heat, Multi, Occasional Dark Themes, One big skeleton family, Other, Past Abuse, Past Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Past Domestic Violence, Past Violence, Possible smut later on, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Romance, Roommates, Soulmates, abusive childhood, bad memories and nightmares sometimes, chronically ill reader, hopefully long plot, please watch tags, portable oxygen use, reverse harem kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:20:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 44,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22490704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SearchingWolf/pseuds/SearchingWolf
Summary: Y/N has had a hard life. It hasnt been easy, but you've fought and scraped your way through, trying your damnedest to find a place you fit in. You work yourself to the bone, trying to make a living, all while having to take care of your many illnesses, so you dont have much time for friends, and you dont have much for family. So when you make friends with a couple skeletons, it quickly becomes a case of them being your only friends, until one day when they finally find out just how much you're struggling.They offer you a choice; move in with them! Help them with the housework, general chores and errands, and they're willing to pay you and give you a place to live. But they do warn you, they have a pretty big family of their own. So you decide to make the leap, not knowing just how much it would actually change your life.But your past has a tendency to come back and haunt you. Will your new skeleton family still be there for you when things get rocky?
Relationships: G!Papyrus/Reader, G!Sans/Reader, Papyrus (Underswap)/Reader, Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Papyrus (underfell)/reader, Papyrus(Fellswap)/Reader, Papyrus(horrortale/Reader), Papyrus(underlust)/Reader, Sans (Underfell)/Reader, Sans (Underswap)/Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Reader, Sans(Fellswap)/Reader, Sans(Horrortale)/Reader, Sans(Underlust)/Reader, possibly more AU's
Comments: 155
Kudos: 456





	1. This is(nt) the life

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there everyone!  
> So this is going to be my main fic, and Im going to put my all into it! As someone who lives with many illnesses and has to be on oxygen, I wanted to make a story like this because I never see any that include what it's like to live with this kind of thing.  
> I hope you all like it (or at least dont hate it!) and please, leave me any kind of comment you want, let me know what you think.  
> Enjoy!  
> ~~~~ SearchingWolf

You can honestly say that today was just one hell of a rough day.

It was late afternoon and you'd been working your tail off trying to keep up with the rush. The bookstore was always pretty busy on Saturdays, so it wasn't that big of a surprise, but it WAS a surprise when your coworker Megan called in...."sick", she said, but you knew it was more than likely a case of brown-bottle fever, judging by the photos on her Facebook of her party from the night before.

You sighed as you stood slowly, adjusting the cannula on your nose and slightly rolling your shoulders that hold the oxygen tank in the backpack you carry. This was the second small bottle you had gone through today and your back definitely ached a bit, but you knew you had your second shift later in the evening so you had better buck up and get used to it.

You pushed your cart full of books to a different area and hummed softly to yourself as you picked them up, read their covers, and sorted them back onto the bookshelf in the best places they could go. You always tried to make things look nice, but you'd also been reprimanded once or twice because your boss thought you were taking too long instead of rushing through so you could get more done, instead of worrying about looks.

Except when we get a secret shopper, and then they get grumpy because things dont look good enough, you think grouchily to yourself.

As your working on your last section of books, you catch some movement out of the corner of your eye and look over to see...a skeleton! Which might have made you jump at one point, but it had been five years since The Barrier had come down, so monsters werent quite as rare of a sight these days. In fact, two of your regulars were skeletons, and you'd come to think of them as friends because they were always so nice to you when they came in! Papyrus and Blue, you had come to know. You smile fondly as you remember they day they finally got up the courage to talk to you about three months ago, asking you if there were any kind of books on puzzles. You had happily showed them where to go, and Blue had excitedly blurted out his question as to why you had that "tube" on your face! Poor Papyrus had look scandalized, but when you laughed and explained that your lungs dont work like they're supposed to so you need help breathing, he had seemed to relax a bit with an apologetic expression. After that, it felt like they came in almost every weekend, "for more puzzle books, of course!" they would say, but you sometimes wondered if they just wanted to see you. They'd always try to make plans to hang out or do things, but you'd been so busy lately you hadnt had the time. It made you happy to think that you had possibly made friends, because let's face it, you were....not the best with people.

As you tried not to get caught staring at this skeleton, you noticed that he was a lot taller than your friend Blue, but not quite as tall as Papyrus. He was wearing black clothes with blood red accents a silky looking red scarf wrapped loosely around his neck, red boots with a slight heel, and long, slender red gloves. The way he held himself straight had an air of grace and authority as he softly looked over the row of books in front of him, one hand behind his back and one hand softly rubbing his chin. You peaked a little closer at the row of books you were in and realized he was perusing the general fiction. As you finished putting away the last of your books, you straightened your work apron and walked closer to him with your customer-service smile on.

"Good afternoon, sir! Are you finding everything alright?" you ask nicely, and he glances at you from the corner of his eyes. He's quiet for a moment, and you start to wonder if he is upset that you interrupted him.

"I am, thank you," he responds quietly, his voice a very deep almost growl. He puts his other hand behind his back with his other before turning to look at you fully. Your eyes glance to the scar marks going across his left eye, but at this point you're pretty used to some strange looking people and monsters, so you force yourself not to stare (plus, come on, you drag oxygen around. You hate when people stare at you, so you try not to do it to others). You see his eyebrow raise slightly as he glances down (probably the tube, of course, you think) but he doesnt say anything more. Something about the calculating red eye sends a strange chill up your spine, but you ignore it and keep your smile.

"That's great! Well just let me know if I can help you with anything, ok?" you say warmly, and he tilts his head in your direction as an assent. You turn and start pushing your empty cart when you hear a loud voice from down the rows.

"Y/N! Y/N!!" comes a loud, higher pitched voice, and your customer service face is replaced with a genuine smile as you see Blue bounding down the row towards you, followed by Papyrus who has a good three or four books piled in his arms.

"Hey guys!" you say warmly, and Blue wraps you in a soft hug, followed by Papyrus who wraps you both in a hug, making sure not to crush you or your backpack. "Back for more puzzle books? Again? Boy, I thought the five you got last time would have tided you over for a couple weeks!"

"AH, Y/N, YOU CLEARLY UNDERESTIMATE THE GREAT PAPYRUS' LOVE OF PUZZLES AND TRAPS!" Papyrus says loudly, pressing a hand to his chest triumphantly. "OF COURSE BLUE AND I NEED MORE CHALLENGES, SO RIGHT BACK HERE WE CAME!"

You laugh and shake your head at the goofy skeletons when Blue looks over your shoulder and he quirks his eyebrows (eyebrow bones?? You still havent figured out how they can do that, but somehow it works). "OH, HELLO WINE! I DIDNT KNOW YOU CAME HERE TOO!"

You turn around to look at the other skeleton, surprised, as he walks over to you three, before you ask Blue "Oh! Do you guys know each other?"

"Yes." The skeleton-Wine?-replies simply.

"YES, HE IS OUR-ER, UM-COUSIN! YES, OUR COUSIN!" Papyrus stutters out, looking strangely suspicious as he scratches the back of his skull. Blue smiles up at you and explains, "HE AND HIS BROTHER LIVE WITH US TOO! WE HAVE KIND OF A BIG FAMILY!"

You smile and nod at them. "Oh, that must be cool! Having a big family must be fun!" you say; Blue nods happily while Papyrus smiles nervously, and Wine chuckles in that deep, rumbling voice of his.

"Sometimes," he says, looking at you with what appears to me amusement.

"OH, MY APOLOGIES, WINE!" Papyrus says suddenly, and he pulls you to his side with his arm around your shoulder. "THIS IS OUR GOOD HUMAN FRIEND, Y/N! Y/N, this is Wine!" You smile at wine and automatically stick your hand out to shake. He looks down at it for a moment before taking it softly yet firmly in his gloved claws.

"Hey, it's great to meet you!" you say, and he chuckles softly before he slowly brings your hand up to his teeth and gives (what you'd guess is the approximate of) a kiss to the back of your hand.

"The pleasure is mine, my lady," he says, looking back into your eyes as your face flushes red. You giggle softly and slowly take your hand back as he straightens. "I've heard much about you."

"Uh oh," you say with a nervous grin, "I hope good things!"

"BUT OF COURSE!" Papyrus says, almost looking offended, while Blue just laughs before looking at you excitedly.

"Actually, Y/N, we wanted to come and ask if you wanted to have a movie night with us this weekend!! We picked out the perfect ones, Mweh Heh, great for our first friend movie night!"

You smile and open your mouth but then shut it as you dejectedly remember that you signed up for an extra shift at the bookstore this weekend, plus working again tonight. "Aw man guys, I would love to, but Im not sure if I'll have time..." you say, but when you see the disappointed looks on Blue and Papyrus' faces, you falter. In your head you start to quickly configure exactly what times you have to work and what time you'd get home, how much time you'd need to get showered and replace your tanks. As you look into those bright, pleading eyes, you give a sigh and a small smile.

"You know what, yeah, let's do it," you give in, and Blue pumps his fist in the air excitedly while Papyrus lets out happy "Nyeh Heh"s. "Um I do have to work tomorrow but I should be getting off about 5:00 pm, what time are you wanting?"

"OH, HOW ABOUT WE COME OVER ABOUT 6?" Papyrus says thoughtfully, looking at Blue who happily nods.

"Great! I'll text you my address. Just um...dont uh...you dont mind that I have to sleep with my oxygen going, right?" you ask nervously, thinking of your home unit that can be a little bit noisy when it's going at night. Blue and Papyrus are immediately shaking their heads.

"NOT AT ALL! IF IT HELPS KEEP OUR DEAR FRIEND ALIVE, THEN WE WELCOME THE NOISE!" Blue says proudly, and you cant help but giggle a little bit. It makes you feel a bit better about having to use it around them.

"OK, Y/N! WE BETTER GO CHECK OUT BLUE, SO WE CAN PREPARE FOR TOMORROWS ADVENTURE, NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus says as he starts marching off with his books, Blue trailing happily behind.

"Bye guys!" You wave at them, before remembering their cousin, and you turn to give him another smile. "It was wonderful to meet you, Wine!"

He smiles politely before slowly following his skeleton cousins. "And you as well, my lady," he says as he walks away, and you happily go back to your work, looking forward to tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After working late at the restaurant that night, by the time you get to work the next day, you feel like you must have aged a good 50 years overnight. Your legs and back ache, your shoulders hurt, and you have a slight pounding headache because you slipped your oxygen off at some point during the night. It didnt happen all the time, but occasionally you still pawed at it unconsciously. You had texted your skeleton friends your address that morning and kept getting happy and excited replies before telling them you were turning your phone on silent because you had work.

The day went by agonizingly slow and by the time it was 4, you were silently pleading for that last hour to go by as fast as possible. You were wrecked, and you wanted that one hour to be able to possibly rest for a bit and tidy your apartment. You were lost in thought when your boss rounded the corner and called to you.

"Y/N, I'd like to talk with you, could you come with me?" He says, his tone even and somewhat cold. You nod and put down the book you were trying to put away before pushing your cart to one side of the aisle to try and get it out of the way, then following him into the back room. You didnt see any of your other coworkers as you were led into your boss' small office, and he closed the door behind you, beckoning for you to take the small chair in front of his desk as he sat down at his own. You pull your backpack off and set it down softly next to you so you can sit down comfortably, winding your tubing around your legs.

"So, Y/N," he starts off, and you start feeling a bit nervous as he scratches his chin. He seems to look everywhere but you, and you get an uncomfortable pit in your stomach. "I know how hard you've been working, and we've uh....loved having you here! But I'm afraid that, at this time, we uh...we have to let you go."

You sit in stunned silence for a moment as his words hit you like a freight train to your chest. You have to clear your throat before your words come out of you, a bewildered, "What..?"

"At this point in time, we do not feel that you working here best aligns with the interests of the company," your boss says, and you have to shake your head a little. You've worked here for two years, and it's a bookstore! What interests have you been getting in the way of??

"I dont understand," You stammer, "Is my performance not adequate? Is it because of my doctors appointments?"

Your boss gives a deep sigh before folding his hands on top of each other and looking at you with a cold, distant stare.

"We just dont feel that it is quite working out at the moment," he says. "We appreciate your service over the last two years and wish you well on your future endeavors. We can either mail you your last paycheck, or you can come pick it up in two weeks, whichever suits you better. Please leave your apron and name tag in your locker."

He stands and opens the door to his office, pretty much ushering you out. You sit there for another moment, feeling a rising panic in your chest. You feel like you want to scream, cry, beg for your job back because Dear Stars I cant afford to lose this job! But you know it wouldnt make a difference, so you grab your backpack and walk out the door without another word.

You're in a daze as you pull off your apron and name tag, empty the few things out of your locker (scraps of paper, water bottle, spare oxygen bottle) into your bag, before you trudge out and through the store. You dont even stop to say goodbye to any of your coworkers; not like you'd become attached to any of them anyway. People just never seemed to like you, and the slightly chilled April air made you shiver as you stepped outside. You didnt live too far away from the bookstore, so the drive in your beat up little ford escord wasnt too far, but you still dont remember most of it. You take the elevator up to your floor on the fourth story of the broken down cheap apartment complex and unlock your door with trembling fingers before shutting it behind you.

You drop heavily onto your old couch, staring into the air before the pressure in your chest finally reaches a breaking point and you hang your head in your hands as the sob rips out of you. Suddenly the tubing on your face feels like it's strangling you so you rip it off. Your fingers dig into your hair as you cry, your shoulders shaking and your chest heaving, feeling like there's an aching hole in your chest. Any time you try to stop, you look over at your backpack holding your oxygen tank, or the "FINAL NOTICE" papers on your coffee table in front of you for your rent, and it makes you cry even more. What am I going to do now? How am I going to afford my rent? My meds? My oxygen? Anything? Your mind screams at you, and you hug your knees up into your chest, resting your head on them with your hands tangled in your hair as you shake and sob harder than you have in a long time.

Your never turned your phone back on after work, so you dont notice the texts from Blue and Papyrus, and you dont seem to realize how long you sit there, crying your heart out. You also dont hear the knocking on your door, drowned out by your cries, or the soft creak as the door opens because you didnt even bother to lock it when you came home.

You let out a startled scream and jump when you feel a bony hand touch your shoulder, and you flush red in embarrassment when you look up into Blue's concerned eyes.

"Oh gosh, Blue! Pap, I-I'm so sorry," you stammer, trying to wipe your face on your sleeve, but you know there's no hiding your face when you've been crying like this. "I-I totally forgot what time it was, let me just-let me just um, clean up a bit."

You're rambling and you know it, but before you can even move to get up, Blue has pulled you into his arms, giving you a strangely warm hug. You thought, with bones, it might've been sharp and uncomfortable, but it's actually so soft, and you feel your eyes tearing up again as he rubs your back. You can see Papyrus sitting down behind blue, concern etched across his face as he slowly leans forward and grabs the "FINAL NOTICE" mail off of the coffee table to read it.

"Y/N...?" he asks softly, turning it towards you, and you give a soft sob again, tears slowly running down your cheeks. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US..?"

You take in a shaky breath before trying to explain in a soft voice. "I d-didnt want to worry you guys with my p-problems," you hiccup. "You're my only f-friends, and I didnt want this kind of stuff to get in the w-way." But you think of what just happened, losing your job, and the tears just keep coming. "B-But I just got f-fired, and I dont know why, and I d-dont know what I'm going to do now. I'm going to get kicked out, and I wont be able to afford my...." you break off and bury your face into Blue's shoulder, him hugging you even tighter as you cry. You hear whispering going on, and Blue's chest rumbles as he turns his head to over the couch like he's talking to someone. You feel the couch move and hear footsteps and murmuring, and assume that Papyrus must be moving around.

You arent sure how long you sit there crying, but you finally stop and sniffle, pulling away from Blue. You feel so embarrassed and you're worried that now they'll think less of you, or not want anything to do with you because of how much drama you have going on in your life.

"I'm sorry Blue, I cried all over your shirt," you apologize softly, not making eye contact, and Blue just shakes his head.

"WHAT KIND OF FRIEND WOULD THE MAGNIFICENT SANS BE IF HE DIDNT LET A GOOD FRIEND CRY ON HIS SHOULDER?" He says, and he grabs your arms reassuringly. "NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS, HUMAN FRIEND!" He reaches out and grabs your oxygen tubing, and you take it gratefully as you sniffle and wind it back around your ears and into your nose.

You smile sadly and turn as you hear more scuffling, but jump slightly when you realize that the other Skeleton you're looking at....isn't Papyrus. This one is wearing a burnt orange hoodie, cargo shorts and....are those crocs? He's rolling a sucker stick around between his teeth and you lean back as he leans up against the back of the couch.

"Hey Honey," he says softly, giving you a relaxing smile. "No need to jump outta your skin. I'm Blue's Bro, you can call me Stretch." He extends his hand toward you and you take it after a moment, experiencing what has to be the most relaxed handshake you've ever experienced in your life. You give a small smile, feeling even more embarrassed at your friend's brother having witness your breakdown. They must think I'm so pathetic...you think angrily at yourself.

You take a deep breath before responding, "It's nice to meet you, Stretch. I've heard lots about you. I'm um...I'm sorry, about you having to see me like this, it's just uh....been a rough day."

He chuckles softly. "That's one word for it," he says as Papyrus comes around the corner from the kitchen, hanging up his phone. He looks at you triumphantly.

"IVE TALKED WITH MY BROTHER, AND HE CLEARED IT WITH A COUPLE OF THE OTHERS!" Papyrus says happily, and Stretch gives a warm smile as he pops the sucker out of his mouth.

"Y/N, right? So, have you ever done any kind of housework before?" Stretch asks lazily, and you look at him questioningly, while Blue gets a huge smile on his face and-did his eyes just turn into stars??

"Um, yeah, I used to, before working at the bookstore," you say, thinking back to a few years ago. Your mind tries to go back further, to a much darker time but you shake your head before it can bring up some terrible memories. "Um, why?"

"WELL CONGRATULATIONS HUMAN! WE WOULD LIKE TO OFFER YOU A JOB, AS OUR HOUSEKEEPER!" Blue shouts excitedly, and your jaw drops a little bit. You look between the three of them in shock, but they actually appear serious.

"Wait um....really? For real..?" you ask hesitantly, and Stretch chuckles as Blue bounces up and down on the couch.

"WE HAVE PLENTY OF ROOM FOR YOU SO YOU COULD EVEN MOVE IN WITH US!" Papyrus beams happily. "IT'LL BE LIKE A SLEEPOVER EVERY NIGHT!! AND YOU WOULDNT NEED TO WORRY ABOUT BEING EVICTED OR TRAVELING FOR WORK!"

You have an internal struggle because you want so badly to accept but your question pops out of you before you can stop it. "But you hardly know me, why..why would you want to help me..?"

Papyrus comes over and sits next to you, and he and Blue wrap their arms around your shoulders. "YOU'RE OUR FRIEND, Y/N! WE DONT HAVE MANY HUMAN FRIENDS THAT TREAT US AS KINDLY AS YOU. WE WANT TO HELP." Papyrus says earnestly, and you feel your eyes prickle with tears again. Stretch leans down and uses his finger to lift your chin up so you look at him.

"These guys have been going on and on about you, hon. I feel like I know all about you already. I know it would make Blue and Pap really happy if you said yes," he said, a surprising softness in his tone, and you feel a slight tug in your chest.

"A-are you sure though..? I dont know how much they told you but um...I have some health problems, and I have to have help to breathe, I use oxyge-" you start to ramble but all three of them chuckle, making your voice drift off.

"WE KNOW, Y/N," Blue says happily. "IT DOESNT BOTHER US AT ALL! WE CAN EVEN HELP YOU GET YOUR STUFF MOVED, AND GET YOUR MEDICAL SUPPLIES SET UP AT THE HOUSE!"

You look at all three of them before smiling tearily, and you hug Blue and Papyrus against you, before leaning up over the side of the couch and hugging a surprised Stretch.

"I would love to, thank you guys so much," You say, and for the first time in what feels like forever, you actually have a little bit of hope and excitement for your future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	2. Or Maybe It Could Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so the moving begins! Papyrus DID clear it with his other housemates...  
> .....  
> right..?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay Im glad some of y'all liked the first chapter! I'm always nervous including some of my health issues into things because some of them arent exactly common, and I know most people wouldnt like having to deal with it. But I got some pretty positive comments and that made me happy, so off we go! I'm hoping to update at least every week (More if I can manage it), so keep an eye out, I'll be updating when I can!  
> Thanks, friends!

It's been so long since you've had a sleepover (not that you had many during childhood), but you forgot just how fun they could be! Papyrus and Blue had brought over plenty of snacks; popcorn, cookies, something that Papyrus had affectionately called “Papy Mix” that looked an awful lot like trail mix, and the entire box set of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was one you had been trying to get Blue and Pap to watch for a long time, because it was one of your favorites!

Stretch had apparently just come over because he wanted to meet you. You get the feeling he’s pretty protective of his brother. But when he was about to take off, you offered that he could crash too, if he wanted, and he had happily flopped himself down onto the sofa.

By the end of the night (or early morning?), you remember laying on the floor under a huge pile of pillows and blankets, Papyrus on your right side and Blue on your left. You had tried to convince them to let you go to sleep in your room so that they wouldn’t be bothered by you having to stretch your oxygen tube from the home unit, but they of course were having none of that, so you had it draped across the tops of the blankets and pillows so it wouldn’t get caught on anything.

When you had started to drift off, you remember your head lolling backwards to rest on the couch and feeling something kind of hard and pointy, but you fell asleep before you thought of Stretch being on the couch behind you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, the first thing you come to notice is the warmth under your cheek. _Isnt my pillow usually cold..?_ You think groggily to yourself, but it feels….actually nice, so you give a soft sigh and cuddle a little closer. Something underneath you gives a very soft rumble, almost like a chuckle, and it tickles your nose, so you reach up and softly rub at your noise before snuggling in tighter to your ‘pillow’.

The rumbling sound comes again, only this time your pillow moves a little, and you feel something cold wipe across your face. “Uh uh, Honey, probably ought to keep that on,” a deep voice says with a hint of amusement, and you feel the cannula settle against it’s usual spot under your nose, and something tucks behind your ear. You slowly start to drift off again when you suddenly remember…

_I live alone…._

Your eyes snap open and you jerk away from what you were leaning against, which turns out to be the skeleton with the orange hoodie. He’s leaning back against the couch with a smirk as you feel your face flush red.

“O-oh, gosh, I’m so sorry!” you stammer, kicking the blankets off from around you. “I’m not sure when I ended up there, but Im really sorry…”

Stretch chuckles and holds his arms out, palms up towards you. “No harm done! You looked like you were _bone-tired_ , so we figured we’d let you sleep,” he says, and you cant help but giggle at the pun.

You stretch lightly, looking around to find (much to your surprise) that your sleepover from the night before has already been cleaned and picked up. Actually, it kind of looks like EVERYTHING is picked up…you look around your living room in surprise, stumbling to your feet. Your entire living room has been packed and stacked in a corner of the room, except for the couch you and Stretch were sitting on and the blankets you were sharing.

Stretch’s eyes have been following you as you spun around, his eyebrow raising in amusement, but as you open your mouth to say something, Papyrus comes around the corner from the kitchen.

“OH, GOOD MORNING, Y/N!” he says with a happy smile. “I HOPE YOU DON’T MIND, BUT WE DECIDED TO START HELPING GET YOU PACKED UP!”

“YEAH! THEN YOU CAN MOVE IN THAT MUCH SOONER!” you hear Blue’s voice from deeper in the kitchen.

You stand there, slack jawed for a minute, before you shake your head and respond. “Wait you’re wanting me to move in now?? Like, today?”

You look from Papyrus to Stretch, who just shrugs while Papyrus beams at you. You cant help but chuckle nervously as you look around your tiny apartment; you barely have enough stuff for this place, so there wont be too much to pack.

“Don’t you um….want to do like, background checks on me or something? Before moving a complete stranger into your house..?” you ask hesitantly, and this makes Stretch laugh.

“Trust me, kid, if we hadn’t already done a bit of checking up on ya, we wouldn’t have let our brothers come over,” a deep voice says from behind you, and you let out a small screech as you whip around. The blankets get tangled up around your feet and you tip forward, only to be caught by two bony arms. You look up and there’s another skeleton, this one wearing a blue zipped up jacket, and… _.pink slippers??_ He gives you a large grin as he helps you step out of the blankets, before letting you pull away.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to make you jump _outta your skin_ there,” the new skeleton says, winking at you. “I’m Sans, Pap’s brother.” He holds a hand out to you and you look at it for a moment, before nervously shaking it and quickly taking your hand back, giving him a shy smile.

“Hi, I’m Y/N! Um, I guess I’m your new uh…housemate?” you say, and he smiles. “Your brother and Blue and Stretch said that it would be ok with you, and the others you live with, but I just want you to know that if it isn’t ok, you don’t have to-“

“Hey, don’t sweat it, kid!” Sans interrupts at the same time as Papyrus says “NONESENSE!”

“My brother hasn’t been this happy in a long time,” Sans explains, clapping your shoulder. “I think having a new friend will be good for him!”

Stretch stands up, leaning his long arms above his head. “Same with Blue. Plus, having a bit of help around with the housework will be especially sweet,” he says, while he happens to be rolling a sucker around in his mouth. He gives you a wink and you giggle softly.

“I will definitely do my part, I swear, thank you guys so much,” you say excitedly. Blue brings in another box from the kitchen and sets it down with the small pile of three other boxes in the corner of the room.

“HI Y/N!” he shouts, jumping forward to give you a hug. “SO WE GOT EVERYTHING PACKED EXCEPT FOR YOUR ROOM, WE UH…WE DIDN’T WANT TO INVADE YOUR PRIVACY.”

You nod and smile at him gratefully. “I’ll go do that right now, just give me a bit. I don’t have much so it shouldn’t take long,” you respond.

“Stretch and I’ll go ahead and take these over while you finish,” Sans says, and he and Stretch trudge over to your small pile of things. He winks at you as he grabs ahold of a couple boxes and suddenly…. ** _disappears??_** Your mouth drops open and you spin around while the three remaining skeletons laugh at your bewilderment.

“Wait did he…can he…what just..?!” you stammer, and Stretch gives you a wink and a salute as he leans against your couch and then he, and the couch, disappear as well. You give a loud yelp and immediately tug on Blue and Papyrus’ sleeves. “OH my GOSH they can TELEPORT that is AMAZING!” you manage to get out, causing the two to double over in laughter. “Ok ok sorry, I’ll finish packing, that was just so COOL!”

You cant help but giggle as you rush off to your bedroom. You find there’s already a few large boxes in there for you, but you know you don’t have much so you’ll probably only need two. You don’t have much for personal things, just a couple of small snow globes, a handful of books, and one tiny photo album. You carefully wrap all of these in your small closetful of clothes before stuffing them into a box and setting it on your bed. _If they can teleport my couch, they can probably do that with my bed too…_ you think thoughtfully before moving into the bathroom, which has even less. The second box is soon full of all of your hygiene products and within a half hour you’ve completely emptied out your place.

You couldn’t help but apologize profusely when you wrapped up your home oxygen unit, but the boys refused to let you feel guilty about taking it with you. Sans and Stretch had both taken great care to teleport it and some of your portable tanks with the rest of your things; they had been going back and forth and before you know it, youre standing in an empty living room with Blue, Sans, and Papyrus. Stretch had apparently gone on ahead to “Get everything settled,” but the look he and Sans shared made you a little nervous.

“ARE YOU SAD TO LEAVE?” Blue asks, his eyes on you with a concerned look on his face, and you realize that you must have been lost in your thoughts. You cant help but chuckle softly.

“Honestly? No, not really,” you say, and you let out a breath. “Living here was kind of a lonely nightmare. Im a little nervous but I think…I think it’ll be nice being around friends.”

Papryus’ smile lights up his whole face and Blue pulls you into a big hug before you give your dingy apartment one final lookover. Sans comes up to you and throws an arm over your shoulders, and you peak over at him with a small smile, hand on your oxygen cart.

“You ready?” he says, with a spark of mischief in his eyes.

“Uh, yeah! I think so! Do we-“ You’re cut off as Sans pulls you closer to him, and suddenly it feels like you’ve been pulled into a vacuum. It’s dark, you’re spinning, things are swirling, and just when you open your mouth to let out a yelp, you’re suddenly on your feet again, in front of what looks like a huge log style ….well, mansion is the only term you can think of. You feel your feet stumble as you lightly push away from Sans, only to start falling before big, strong arms catch you.

“Jeez, easy there doll, didn’t think ya’d fall for me right off the bat,” a gruff, growly voice says, and you look up into a set of red eyes.

This skeleton looks almost like Sans, except his face appears somehow rougher, and he appears to have a gold tooth. Under his red turtleneck, it almost looks like he has a collar on, but you don’t have time to think more on that before he gets you right on your feet. Your face flushes when his flirt processes and you laugh nervously as you take a step backwards, dragging your oxygen cart with you.

“S-Sorry, didn’t mean to uh..” you stammer, but the red skeleton just chuckles in that deep voice of his as he steps closer to you.

“Hey, I wasn’t complainin’,” he purrs, but suddenly Sans is in his way, and there’s a tense stand off between the two before he makes a ‘tsk” sound and waves his hand. “Just messin with ya, name’s Red. So you’re the new help, eh?”

You nod and let out a sigh as Sans seems to back down. “Hi Red, nice to meet you. I’m Y/N”! You say, waving politely at him. “Are you a cousin, or a brother?”

All the Skeletons seem to look at each other before Papyrus and Red both yell “COUSIN!” You look between them, noticing the shifty looks, but decide to leave it alone; family can be complicated, and you weren’t about to judge them for it. Blue grabs your arm and starts softly pulling you towards the house.

“COME ON, Y/N! I CAN GIVE YOU A TOUR!” Blue says excitedly, and you cant help but laugh at the stars that have appeared in his eyes; You’d have to ask about that sometime. Papyrus takes your other side as they walk you up the path, and your eyes widen in amazement as you take in their…your…new home.

You’re surrounded by pine trees, and there doesn’t appear to be another house for miles. You cant even hear anything other than the occasional birds or chipmunks, and the log mansion in front of you is absolutely gorgeous. It appears to be three stories with an attic up at the top, and a lovely wrap around porch. _This is the kind of house I always dreamed of having, if I ever got rich…_ you cant help but think to yourself. A long driveway pulls off to the left side into what looks like a four car garage, but you guys walk to the right on the sidewalk up some stairs to the front door; Papyrus, being the gentleman he is, carries your oxygen cart up the stairs before you can, and he waves you off with a smile when you try to protest.

Blue opens the front door with a grand gesture, and Papyrus pulls you inside before spreading his arms out wide and happily saying “WELCOME TO OUR EXTRAVAGANT HOME!”

You laugh happily, looking all over as you take in such a spacious place. To the right, down a slight dip, is the living with. It has a huge flat screen TV that is surrounded by big, comfy couches and chairs. To the left is a dining room with a very large wooden table, big enough to fit…you count silently.. ten people? Past the dining room you can see counters and you assume that must be the kitchen, while a hallway in front of you leads to what must be bedrooms and stairs.

“Come on back here, hon,” you hear Stretch say, and he appears from one of the rooms down the hallway. “We figured, with your health and such, having a room on the ground floor might be easier for you.”

You flush red as you nod slightly, forcing your feet forward. You go past the stairs and around a corner to the left, and Stretch is standing in a room on the right. You curiously walk in and your jaw drops; this room is huge!

“Wow,” you exclaim, and Stretch chuckles as Papyrus and Blue follow you in. “This room is almost as big as my entire apartment!” You laugh, spinning in a slight circle in the middle of the room. Your bed is already here, along with the rest of your stuff, your clothes already hung in the large, walk in closet. There’s a large window that lets you look out through the trees, and you notice another door that leads to a bathroom with a decent sized tub. You rush into it with a loud laugh. “OH MY GOSH, I get my own BATHROOM?!”

You hear the others cracking up as you come racing out of the bathroom, a huge smile plastered on your face. “WOW this is amazing! How many of you live here?”

Stretch shrugs as Papyrus and Blue look at each other. “WELL THERE’S ME AND STRETCH, SANS AND PAP, RED AND HIS BROTHER, EDGE-

_His name is Edge? You think to yourself with a giggle._

“-WINE AND HIS BROTHER, YOU MET WINE AT THE BOOKSTORE. AND THEN BLACK AND HIS BROTHER! SO TEN LIVE WITH US CURRENTLY, BUT WE OCCASIONALLY HAVE OTHER FAMILY COME TO VISIT!” Papyrus finished happily, and you couldn’t help but shake your head.

“Wow that is a BIG family,” you remark, and Papyrus seems to chuckle nervously while Blue picks at his sleeve. You give them a big smile.

“So, housework and cooking and errands, right?” you say, and that snaps everyone back to attention. They take you on a tour of the rest of the house; there’s a den behind the living room that has a bar and a large collection of what looks like all kinds of magical drinks. _Not that I can drink, but they sure look cool,_ you think to yourself. Then upstairs are everyone’s rooms. The main floor has the only bedroom, which they gave to you, and you silently hope that they didn’t kick anyone out for it. The second floor has the rooms of Sans, Red, Stretch, Papyrus, and Blue, while the third floor has Edge, Wine’s Brother Russ, Black, and Black’s brother. Apparently the attic is where Wine’s room is, and everyone seemed happy to let him be up there on his own because of how much he likes his privacy. There’s a back room off of the den that is the laundry room, and then there’s a nice double door that leads out into the backyard.

You cant help but gasp as you step out onto the porch. “Oh wow, this view is to die for!” You exclaim, but then blush and giggle when Stretch puts a hand to his chest and raises his eyebrow at you with a smirk.

“Yeah we like being out away from humans. Bunch of skeletons, milling around? Definitely gonna rattle someone’s bones,” Sans appears to your left, and you laugh as he winks at you.

From where you’re at, you can see a windy path that leads out into the forest, and what looks like a small little cabin or guesthouse off to the right. Through the trees, you can almost see what looks like water, and your heart skips excitedly at the thought of living this close to a lake.

“OH, Y/N! WE GOT YOUR OXYGEN UNIT SET UP IN YOUR ROOM, BUT WE ALSO WANTED YOU TO FEEL AT HOME, SO WE GOT A SECOND UNIT TO PUT IN THE LIVING AREA,” Papyrus calls to you as he steps back into the house, and your stomach lurches uncomfortably.

“Oh gosh no, guys, you really don’t have to do that!” you stammer, spinning around to look at them. “Those things aren’t exactly cheap, and I-I don’t have much money to pay you ba-“

“Hey, stop that,” Stretch says, waving his hand, and Sans steps forward and wraps an arm around your shoulder.

“Don’t worry about money, kiddo, we want you to be comfortable here,” Sans says, leading you back in the house to the living room. You fidget with your tube nervously though, because those things definitely aren’t cheap. “Besides, if you’re going to work here, you’ll need to be healthy. And you cant exactly work if you cant breathe.”

You let out a sigh as Papyrus shows you where he’s put another oxygen unit, in the corner of the living room. He even has the tubing all wrapped up next to it so no one will trip on it. You smile thankfully as Red comes in and flops on the couch.

“Yeah, I know I’m hot ‘nough to take your breath away, but still…” Red taunts, and then busts up laughing when he sees how red your face gets. Suddenly one of the couch cushions glows a soft blue color and launches itself directly at Red’s head, but he just twitches his hand and it flies off and hits the wall instead.

Everyone in the room is laughing or chuckling when suddenly the front door slams open, and everyone goes quiet. You hear the noise of boots clacking on the tile, and suddenly one of the scariest skeletons you’ve ever seen is standing there, glaring right at you. His face is more slender and sharp than the others, but in contrast to them, he has large gash marks that cover his left eye. He’s wearing a black leather jacket with red accents on it, skin-(Bone??)-tight black pants and tall, blood red boots.

None of that seems to bother you as much as his murderous stare does, and you feel yourself shrink backwards slightly as his eyes bore into you. You feel fingers lightly trace up your back as Stretch comes to stand next to you, his eyes lazily watching this new skeleton, but his face appears tight.

“WELCOME HOME, EDGE!” Blue breaks the silence, although even he looks a little nervous. “THIS IS Y/N! REMEMBER? WE TALKED ABOUT THEM WORKING FOR US AND MOVING IN?”

His voice trails off as this skeleton-Edge-sets his suitcase down and uses his foot to slam the front door shut. It’s quiet enough to hear a pin drop as he slowly crosses the room towards you, but he stops just on the opposite side of the coffee table. He appears to look you up and down, and while it makes you blush slightly, it also spikes a little bit of anger in you.

_Did this dude just check me out without even introducing himself?_

“SO,” he drawls, and his voice is slow and deep, almost like Red’s, but as if it’s clipped and more controlled. “YOU’RE THE HUMAN THESE NUMBSKULLS HAVE HIRED.”

You nod, your anxiety slowly turning more into annoyance because he just barely came in the door and already insulted your friends.

“Yep, that’d be me,” you respond, crossing your arms in front of you.

A sneer spreads across his face and he chuckles menacingly. “ARE YOU SURE YOU CAN DO THE JOB? IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE YOU CAN DO MUCH OF ANYTHING, THE WAY YOU ARE NOW.”

You hear Blue and Stretch suck in a breath, while Sans leans forward and Papyrus opens his mouth as if to say something

But you feel the blood rushing in your ears and you see red for a moment as you take a couple steps around the coffee table to stand up straight, glaring up into Edge’s eyes. He looks almost surprised for an instant before his sneer comes back.

You glare into his eyes before coldly and calmly replying “You don’t look like one to talk, Mr Walking Pile of Bones.”

The house goes completely still, and Edge’s eyes widen. His eyelights seem to disappear, and for a moment you think _This is it, this is how I die._ But then the tall, scary skeleton gives a loud huff, spins on his heels and snatches his briefcase before stomping up the stairs. You hear a door slam and you sag slightly, sliding down to sit on the couch next to red.

The silence is broken when Red doubles over in laughter, and he’s quickly joined by Sans, Stretch, then Blue and Papyrus. You’re still too shaken to laugh, but you cant help but smile a little, and Red reaches over and wraps his arm around your shoulders, giving you a big squeeze.

“Oh boy, I like ya already, dollface,” he laughs, and your cheeks burn as you giggle, looking around at the happy faces around you.

You cant help but feel like this might actually be somewhere you could belong.


	3. Meet (most of) the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader gets to meet most of the rest of the family! Some seem a bit more....suggestive....than others...

The front door opened once more and you felt yourself tense up once again, while you felt Red’s hold on your shoulder tighten. You relaxed slightly when you recognized the skeleton who came in the door. Wine looked into the living room and a small smile came on his face when he saw you.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again,” he says softly, slightly bowing his head at you.

“Yeah, it’s good to see you too!” you say with a genuine smile. Sans, Stretch, and Red look at Wine and then back at you with surprised looks on their faces.

“I didn’t know you two had met already,” Sans said, and you nodded happily.

“Yeah! I met him the other day, when he came into the bookstore,” you responded. “That’s when I found out he was related to Blue and Papyrus.

Once again, you noticed some strange looks between the skeletons, which piqued your curiosity a great deal, but you weren’t going to pry; not when you hadn’t even been there a day.

“OH!” Blue jumped up, startling most of the room. “I SHOULD MAKE DINNER! SPECIAL TACOS FOR YOUR FIRST NIGHT HOME!”

Papyrus jumped up beside him, and you giggled slightly at their enthusiasm. “OF COURSE! I WILL HELP YOU, BLUE! I CAN MAKE SPAGHETTI, AND Y/N CAN TRY THEM BOTH SO IT’S AN EXTRA SPECIAL DINNER!”

They raced to the kitchen, leaving you with Sans, Stretch, Red, and Wine. Red heaved himself up off the couch with a groan. “If they’re cooking, I’m outta here.”

You look at him quizzically, and Stretch chuckles, sliding into the seat next to you and leaning in to speak softly, as if he had a secret to share. “Our bro’s love to cook, but uh…not everything they make is exactly edible, if you get my drift.”

“Ooohh…” you say, realization dawning on your face. “I um…oh gosh, now I feel horrible.” Sans laughs while Red walks away, heading up the stairs to his room. Wine steps further into the room with a quizzical look on his face. “I…see, with my health, I um..” You stammer, not quite sure how to explain. To your immense surprise, Wine comes to your rescue.

“There are things you cant eat, is that correct?” He asks softly, and you nod, looking at the floor. “Don’t worry about tonight; we’ll talk with them. You must be tired after the past few days, so no one would think ill of you if you wished to retire to your room to relax.”

“I’ll go grab somethin’ actually edible from Grillby’s for the rest of us,” Sans responds, and with a wink and a swirl of what appeared to be blue magic, he suddenly disappeared. Wine and Stretch both chuckle, and you realize you were staring at the place Sans used to be.

“Ok can all of you do that? Because that is…really cool,” you ask, looking between Wine and Stretch excitedly. Before they can answer, you hear thumping coming down the stairs and your head whips around, already tensing for another showdown with Edge, but are surprised to see someone new. This particular skeleton is pretty tall and lanky, wearing a black coat with orange fluff around the hood and a red sweater underneath. He also has a golden tooth just like red, you notice, replacing what must be one of his fangs.

“Welcome home M’lor-“ he starts to say, but he freezes when he sees you. It’s quiet for a moment as the two of you stare at each other, before Wine clears his throat, making you both jump.

“Mu-uh, Rus, this is Y/N,” Wine says, sweeping his hand out towards you. “She will be working and living with us, taking care of the house and such. Y/N, this is my brother, Rus.”

You smile shyly and get to your feet, reaching a hand out towards him.

“H-hello! It’s nice to meet you!” you say, and a warm yet sly smile spreads across his face as he takes your hand in his.

“Well, would you look at you…” he says, pointedly looking you over, and you flush bright red. You’re super self-conscious of your oxygen, but he appears to just gaze right over it. “Things are sure to be a lot more…interesting, with you around.”

Wine shoots him a glare and you chuckle nervously, but notice that he still hasn’t let go of your hand when you feel another hand on your shoulder. You turn your head to see Stretch standing beside you, looking at Rus with a hard expression in his eyes.

“Yeah, Y/N’s had a long day, so she was about to go unwind,” he says, glancing down to your hand still in Rus’. “So uh, if you don’t mind..?”

Rus chuckles and finally lets go of your hand before giving you a warm smile and walking towards the den. Wine sighs and then turns back to you.

“Well, I hope you’ll soon feel at home here,” he tells you, and you smile shyly again. “If you’d like, I can ask if Papyrus and Blue would be willing to go shopping for some food that would be safe for you tomorrow, so you don’t have to try and eat….whatever it is they make.”

You laugh lightly and nod, replying “That would be great, actually! Thank you, Wine.” He waves his hand as he turns and heads up the stairs, but you swear you could have seen a slight blush across his cheekbones. _Wait, skeletons can blush?_ You think to yourself before shaking your head.

Stretch, his hand still on your shoulder, walks with you down out of the living room and down the hall to your room. You can hear various pots and pans clanging together, and the faint smell of something burning hits your nose, making you feel relieved that you wont have to break the news to Blue and Papyrus yourself about not eating their cooking.

“Thank you so much, for letting me stay here, for…giving me a job. For everything,” you say softly once you reach your room. Stretch chuckles, giving your shoulder a soft squeeze.

“Don’t worry bout it Honey, we take care of our own,” Stretch responds, and you feel a strange pang in your chest at the words. You aren’t sure whether you feel happy or sad or guilty, but to hide the tears that tried to well in your eyes, you turn and give him a big hug before going in and closing the door to your room, making you miss the slight orange blush that speckled Stretch’s cheeks.

You sigh as you sit on the corner of your bed, feeling exhausted. You dig into your closet and bring out a pair of long shorts and a tank top, turning of your portable oxygen tank so you can slip into your clothes. The sun is just setting and casts an orange glow through the curtain as you stretch out your cord from your home unit and dig out your phone charger, plugging it into the wall and your phone before setting it on the nightstand. You softly climb into bed and are asleep almost as soon as your head hits the pillow, thoughts of warm, friendly, (and handsome, you cant help but think) skeletons swirling in your head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You wake up feeling somewhat refreshed (but still tired, because stupid auto immune disorders) and roll over to grab your phone, blinking rapidly at the light. 7:23, it reads, and you yawn and stretch before sitting up and sliding off the bed, flicking your oxygen off. You head into the bathroom, seeing fresh towels and decide to start the day with a nice shower. You didn’t have one this big back at your previous apartment, much less a tub, and you moan happily when the hot water hits you, enjoying having space to actually move around.

You stay until the knots in your back and shoulder are gone before stepping out and drying yourself. After you get most of your hair dry, you wrap the towel around yourself and open the door back into your bedroom.

Only to let out a shriek and almost jump backwards into the wall.

“Easy there, Sweet-Cheeks, no need to shout,” the skeleton sitting on your bed chuckles. You put a hand to your chest, trying to discreetly hook your towel tighter to your body.

“C-Can I help you?” you ask, crossing your arms over your chest, extremely aware of how short the towel is.

The skeleton stands up, and you realize he’s fairly tall too, maybe as tall as Stretch. He’s wearing a purple zipped up hoodie and black pants, but you notice that his bones almost appear…slightly yellow, more so than the white you would expect. He also has an eye patch over his right eye, and his left eye actually looks a pretty purple.

Despite all of that, you feel annoyed slightly at this new skeleton having invaded your room without you being introduced, much less just when you came out of the shower.

He chuckles, seeming to read your annoyance on your face. “Mean no harm, just wanted to introduce myself. Most people call me Cash, ‘m Black’s brother,” he says, shoving his hands in his pockets. “You probably wont meet my bro for a bit, he’s out and about a lot.”

You nod, eyeing him suspiciously. “Well uh…nice to meet you. I’m Y/N,” you say flatly, shifting on your feet, when suddenly the smell of cigarette smoke hits your nose. You reflexively take a breath and regret it instantly, as you feel your lungs start to ache. Before you get a chance to say anything, your door bursts open and Red comes barging in, looking around wildly with a snarl on his face. When his eyes land on you, clad in only your towel, his face goes blank, and you feel your face flush.

“Oh, s-sorry Dollface, I uh, just heard you scream and thought…” he stammers, when his eyes finally land on Cash. His face turns down in a frown and he crosses his arms.

“Really, ashtray? Buggin’ the lady right outta the shower? Figures,” Red grumbles, and Cash gives him a wink.

“Wanted to meet her, and introduce myself before going to work,” Cash responds. “Can see why Blue and Papyrus like her so much, she’s an eye-catcher.”

You aren’t sure whether to feel flattered or offended, but the smell of smoke is really starting to bother you, so you clear your throat, causing the two of them to look back at you.

“Would you guys mind uh…I’d like to get changed..?” You ask, hoping they’ll let you get dressed without a fuss.

Red flushes but gives you a wink before turning and leaving, and Cash smiles, a mischievous look in his eye before heading for the door.

“See ya around, Sweet Cheeks,” he calls over his shoulder before shutting the door behind him. _That one’s going to be trouble,_ you think to yourself before digging in your closet for clothes.

Once your dressed and have used your oxygen for a little while, you happily head out of your room to the kitchen. Edge, Sans, and Red are all seated at the dining table, while Rus is in the kitchen pouring a cup of coffee.

“Good morning!” you say, and Sans and Red give you a warm smile. Rus gives you a wink and you smile as he takes his cup and heads back up the stairs.

“Morning kiddo, sleep well?” Sans asks, and you nod happily, sitting down next to him, the farthest spot from Edge.

“I did, thanks!” you say, trying not to glance at Edge as you feel his gaze glaring down on you. “What’s everyone doing today? Do you all work?”

“Red and I mostly work from home,” Sans explains, leaning across the table. “Stretch and Rus run their own computer repair business, so sometimes they work from home, sometimes the make house calls. Blue and Papyrus actually work at a gym as motivational trainers. Edge helps in the royal guard along with Wine and Black, and…I’m still not entirely sure what Cash does.

“Wow, the royal guard?” You cant help but ask, glancing at Edge. You make eye contact and things are tensely quiet for a moment, before he makes a huffing sound and stands up, his chair screeching. Taking long strides, he’s out the door before anyone can speak, and you look down at the table, feeling anxious.

“Did I make him too upset..?” you ask softly, but look up when you feel a skeletal hand rest on top of yours. Red gives your hand a good pat, and Sans smiles warmly at you.

“Don’t mind my bro, he’s just a lil prickly around the...Edges..” he says, and you let out a soft laugh. “He’ll come around.”

“Welp Red, better get to it,” Sans says, and Red lets out a groan as they both stand and head to what looks like the door to the basement. Sans pats your head as he passes you and you give them a wave as they disappear from view, before looking around you and sucking in a breath. You get up and step into the kitchen to see if there is anything safe for you to eat. Much to your surprise, when you open the fridge, you see all sorts of food that…wouldn’t actually hurt or kill you! Opening the cupboards reveals the same, and you make a mental note to thank Wine. Blue and Papyrus wouldn’t have had time to go shopping yet, so Wine must have made sure there was at least SOME food for you to eat. _What a nice guy…_ you think to yourself, humming happily.

You end up cooking yourself some scrambled eggs, and you take your plate with you to the backyard porch, where you sit in a patio chair to enjoy your breakfast. _What a beautiful view_ …you think as you happily munch your eggs, looking out over the trees and occasionally catching the glimpse of the lake’s water.

You’ve just finished your food when something catches your eye, and you sit up, looking intently through the trees. For a moment, it almost looked like there was something staring back at you…a blood red eye, peaking out of the dark forest just behind the guesthouse. But just when you lean forward, it’s gone, and you shake your head for a moment _. I must be imagining things…_ you tell yourself, before standing and making your way back inside. But still, you cant help the chill that goes up your back that’s trying to tell you that no, it wasn’t just your imagination. You sigh, washing your plate and fork before putting them in the drying wrack and bending down to gather cleaning supplies from under the sink.

Time to get to work!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading so far, and I hope you like it! This chapter was a little shorter, but now that most of the introductions have been made, the fun can get underway ;-)  
> Let me know what you think, if you liked it, if you didnt!  
> ~SearchingWolf


	4. Big Old Softies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're starting to get into a pretty good routine with your newfound family. But sometimes, it's still not easy, what with your physical health issues and....past issues.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter has a bit of a violent flashback, so be warned! If you're sensitive to abuse just please be careful while reading. And as always, let me know what you think, if you liked it, if you didnt! Enjoy!

It wasn’t until a few days later that you finally got the chance to meet Black. You had gotten up early so you could make coffee and breakfast for everyone, and were happily chatting away with Blue and Papyrus when Black strutted into the room.

“Hi! You must be Black,” you smiled happily at him, but he just stood there staring at you for a minute. Feeling kind of nervous, you glanced at Blue and Papyrus before looking back at Black. “I um…I made coffee..? And breakfast, if you’re hungry.” Without saying a word, Black took a seat at the table, folding his hands in front of him. It was quiet for a moment, but when he finally cleared his throat, you realized he must be waiting for you to serve him.

 _Oh I’ll serve you something…._ you think to yourself, before pouring a mug of coffee and setting it in front of him. You were serving up a large portion of eggs, bacon, and pancakes when Stretch and Edge plodded into the room, and Stretch gave you a wink and a nudge as he stole a piece of bacon off the plate you were carrying.

“Hey bacon thief, manners!” you chuckled, swatting him away, before setting the plate down in front of Black. Instead of saying thank you, he just tucked right in, while Edge and Stretch made their own plates.

“SO Y/N, ANY FUN PLANS FOR TODAY?” Blue asked happily, and you smiled at his enthusiasm.

“Well after I do cleaning and laundry, I thought about walking down to the lake. It’s been forever since I’ve-“ You’re interrupted when you feel a hand on your shoulder, and you turn to look into San’s eyes, his eye lights surprisingly small and nervous.

“Hey kiddo that might not…be the best idea,” He said, and you looked at him questioningly as Red steps into the kitchen.

“What aint the best idea?” Red probed, leaning back against the counter.

“I just wanted to go down to the lake..?” You questioned, but you noticed the pointed look that went between Red and Sans, and Blue and Papyrus. “What, are there bears or something? I have some pepper spray, I should be fine.”

“W-WELL, YES, THERE MIGHT BE BEARS AND O-OTHER UNSAFE THINGS FOR HUMANS…” Papyrus stuttered, ringing his hands in front of him, and you quirk an eyebrow. “BUT! IF YOU WANT TO GO, MAYBE WE CAN SET UP A TIME FOR US ALL TO GO, SO YOU WONT BE ALONE!

“YEAH, THAT SOUNDS FUN, PAPS!” Blue agreed, nodding aggressively. You smile and agree with them, letting the subject drop for now…but you’re definitely going to come back to it later.

 _I practically lived in the woods as a child, I don’t need a chaperone just to go to the lake…_ you think to yourself. You’re shaken from your thoughts however, when a loud voice rings out.

“HUMAN.”

You whipped around and realized the voice must have come from Black. His voice was like a mix of Blue’s and Edge’s, and you turned towards him to ask what he wanted.

He was leaning back in his chair all smug like and motioned at his empty plate and cup.

 _Ohhhh, this asshole…._ You think to yourself before standing up stiffly and walking over to him. He doesn’t even look at you as you gather his plate and mug and take them to the sink. Before you have a chance to realize what exactly is coming out of your mouth, it’s already too late.

“Would his Majesty like anything else? Shoeshine, neck massage?”

Its quiet enough to hear a pin drop when Black turns to finally make eye contact, his sockets quirked in mild surprise and…something else you cant quite place. Stretch bursts into laughter, followed by laughter from Red and someone coming down the stairs.

“Careful there, Sweet Cheeks, my bro might think you’re serious,” Cash chuckles as he leans against one of the kitchen walls.

“I CAN PICK UP SARCASM, THANK YOU VERY MUCH,” Black huffs, before standing and moving over to be in front of you. You take a slight step backwards but otherwise hold your ground, and are surprised when a smirk finally crosses over his face. “YOU’RE FIESTY, FOR A HUMAN. THIS MIGHT ACTUALLY BE INTERESTING.”

And just like that, he leaves the room, and you hear the others chuckling at your expression.

“Wait was that a good thing..?” You ask, looking around at them.

“Think of it as passing his test, Honey,” Stretch jokes, winking at you. “Most of us like you already, the others might take a bit of warming up.”

“Oh…” you say, blushing slightly. You see Edge twitch out of the corner of your eye, and Red chuckles as he slings an arm around your shoulders.

“Yeah Doll, some a these other guys don’t know a pretty gal when they see one,” He purrs, and you roll your eyes as you shove him off of you, blushing furiously. He just winks at you and takes his coffee, leaving the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And so you spend the next couple weeks just getting into a common routine. You’d get up and make breakfast for everyone before doing dishes, cleaning the house, vacuuming, sometimes having to stop so you could catch your breath and not get sick. You’d gotten pretty good at separating everyone’s laundry, but you didn’t want to go into any of the skeleton’s room and invade their privacy, so you would just set their folded clothes in a hamper outside their door.

In the evenings, sometimes you’d make dinner and sometimes it would be one of the Skeletons (which usually resulted in a huge mess to clean up later, but you couldn’t help but smile at how much fun they had trying to cook.) Then a lot of times you and Blue and Papyrus would hang out and play Mario Kart or Smash Bros, sometimes being joined by Stretch and Sans.

It’s during one of your cleaning sessions, when you thought it’d be a good idea to clean and dust the tops of the bookshelves and entertainment center, when the dust catches in your lungs and you start coughing uncontrollably.

 _Ah Fuck…_ you think _,_ trying to climb down from the stepladder, but your coughing makes you wobble and you feel yourself tipping-

Only to be caught by long, strong skeletal arms. You’re still coughing and wheezing so you aren’t really sure who it is, but they set you down on the couch and you sit there, breathing deeply from your oxygen as you try to get the coughing and wheezing to calm down. You’re vaguely aware of a hand rubbing up and down your back, and it…actually feels very nice. After a few minutes you look up and are surprised to see that it’s actually Edge who was helping you. You give him a grateful smile and see a fairy faint red blush across his cheek bones.

“Thank you…” You say softly, and he grunts at you, but he doesn’t pull his hand away.

“YOU SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL,” he grumbles, but you just sway and bump him lightly with your shoulder. His scowl softens slightly, only to harden again before he stands up and moves out of the room.

Later that evening, while you’re in the living room trying to find something to put on TV, someone taps your shoulder lightly and you turn to see Sans leaning against the couch. You smile warmly at him and he smiles back, stepping closer.

“Heya kiddo,” He says, and you chuckle softly.

“Do you call everyone kiddo, or just me?” you ask playfully as you sit down on the couch, motioning for him to do the same.

“Only the humans I like,” he says, winking at you, and you laugh, trying to hide your blush as he sits next to you. “So, I talked with Edge today…”

 _Oh._ “Oh yeah?” You ask, trying hard to seem nonchalant, but probably failing miserably.

“You know you can take it a little easier, right?” Sans ask, leaning forward to try and catch your eyes. “None of us are gonna think ill of you for slacking off just a little bit.”

“I know, I know…” You mumble, still refusing to meet his eyes. “I just…I want to prove that I’m useful. You guys did a huge thing, taking me in, giving me a home and a job. I want to earn my keep.”

You startle as you feel cold fingers come up under your chin, tilting your head until you’re forced to look into San’s eyes. His are filled with kindness, and what almost looks like a bit of sadness.

“You don’t have to kill yourself to prove that, Y/N,” he says, and you almost roll your eyes but don’t because he still has your chin in his fingers. “We’re all happy to have you here. You’ve made this place feel a bit more like a home, instead of just a house of skeletons.”

You laugh softly, and Sans smirks, finally letting go of your chin. He pats your knee before standing up.

“You’re family now, kid. You’re stuck with us,” He winks, before leaving the room, and you have to fight a girly giggle as you put a hand up to where his hand grabbed your chin. In the next few minutes you’re joined by Blue, Papyrus, Wine, and Stretch, and you and Blue argue playfully over what show to watch. You finally settle on some goofy romantic comedy. Blue sits down on the floor at your feet, leaning up against the couch, while Papyrus takes one of the big armchairs. Stretch sits on one side of you, smooshing up close, while Wine sits on your other side but giving you more space as he pulls out a book and starts reading.

You’re feeling just warm and comfortable enough, surrounded by your newfound skeleton family, that before you know it, you’re drifting off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_You’re shaking uncontrollably, tears pouring down your face, but too afraid to try and wipe them away for fear of angering him._

_“What the fuck are you crying for?!” He yells, but you’re too scared to say anything in case it makes things worse. “I’ll GIVE you something to cry about!”_

_“Nonono please, I’m sorry, please don’t!” You cry, trying to scramble backwards away from him. But the loveseat isn’t that large, and your back hits the armrest. His hands wrap around your upper arms, and you let out a terrified scream as he picks you up and throws you into the other couch, your head hitting the wall, hard. You scramble backwards once more as you watch him rear up, and you cry and plead more as you watch him pick up his old horsewhip from the ground in one hand, his old war bayonet in the other._

_“You’re just like her, and her family,” he growls angrily, and you’re panting heavily in fear, watching as he steps closer. “I can think of all the ways I’d use this to wipe that scum off the face of the planet…”_

_He swipes the bayonet in the air in front of you and you cower back._

_“I’d slice them like THIS-“ He slices the knife through the air again. “Then stab them like THIS-“ He makes a stabbing motion towards you. “And then, right across the throat…”_

_You scream and bring your arms up to cover your face as he comes towards you, the bayonet raised-_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

“Y/N!!!”

You hear someone sobbing and pleading and you cant quite figure out where it’s coming from. You try to move but realize that you’re wrapped up in someone’s arms. You feel wetness falling down your cheeks and realize you’re shaking.

_Oh…that sound is me…_

Whoever is holding you is rocking you back and forth softly, and you feel another hand rubbing your back as you try to control your crying. Peaking through the arms, you see Blue and Papyrus looking at you with wide, worried eyes. You’re still hazy, caught up in the terrible memory of the nightmare, so you don’t catch the mumbling going on around you. Someone tilts your head up and you feel your oxygen cannula being placed over your ears and under your nose, before the rocking continues. You let yourself sit there for a moment, taking deep, slow breaths, as you listen and feel the soft rumble in the chest of the person holding you.

You aren’t sure how much time passes, but once you’ve mostly calmed down, you start to pull back to see who is holding you. You feel your cheeks flush red as you look up into Wine’s worried face, and you turn to look at whoever is rubbing your back and see Stretch, who is also looking at you with concern. Sans is standing behind the couch, one hand clutching the back of it tightly as he uses the other to reach out and pat your head.

“Y/N? Are you alright now?” Wine asks, his voice surprisingly soft and calm. You nod numbly, hastily wiping your cheeks with your sleeve.

“I-I’m so sorry guys…” you apologize, feeling like an idiot.

Sans shakes his head at you. “Nothin’ to apologize for, kid,” he says reassuringly.

“You get these kinda nightmares often..?” Stretch asks, and you look away as you nod.

“WE WERE SO WORRIED!!! YOU SOUNDED SO AFRAID!!” Blue cries, looking as if he’s about to burst into tears for you. You try to give him a smile, but you know it doesn’t reach your eyes.

“It’s ok Blue, just a bad dream,” you say, and he launches over your legs to wrap his arms around you, causing Wine to let his hold go. Papyrus follows suit, and you’re buried in a pile of skeleton arms.

You’re feeling extremely embarrassed and worn out, so you pat Blue and Papyrus’ skulls. “Hey, I think I’m going to go lay down, if that’s ok…”

“OF COURSE, YOU MUST BE TIRED AFTER…AFTER ALL THAT…” Papyrus says as they pull back, and you give him a tired smile.

“I’ll walk you to your room,” Wine says, standing up and offering you a hand. You take it gratefully, winding up the living room oxygen cable and shutting it off, still feeling shaky, and you wish the others a good night as you let Wine lead you to your room.

“You’re pretty good at helping someone having a nightmare,” you say, feeling the need to break the silence. He smiles softly as he opens your door for you.

“My brother used to get them frequently,” he explains, and you look at him curiously. “Not so much now that we’re….on the surface. But old habits die hard.”

You smile warmly at him before climbing up onto your bed.

“Thank you…” you say quietly, and he bows his head at you with a warm smile.

“Of course, my lady,” he says, before leaving and closing the door behind him.

But once he leaves the room, it starts to feel like the silence and dark is pressing in on you. After changing into your pajamas, you put your oxygen on and climb under your blankets. You lay there for a while, trying to push through it, before you cant take it anymore and you snatch your phone from the nightstand next to you. For some reason, Stretch is the first one that comes up (because he had been the last one to text you), and you nervously shoot him a text.

**XXX: You still up?**

You wait, biting your fingers nervously, but instead of a response, Stretch just shortcuts right into your room, making you jump a little.

“Sorry hun, didn’t mean to scare you,” he says, shuffling over to your bed. You feel it shift as he sits on the side. “You alright?”

You take a deep breath, scratching the back of your neck softly, before quietly responding.

“Um yeah, I uh…I was just wondering um…c-could you stay..? Just for tonight, Im sorry, that’s probably weird, you don’t have to,” but your rambling is cut off when you hear him chuckle softly. Next thing you know, he’s sprawled out next to you, on top of the covers while you’re underneath.

“Of course, honey, you don’t gotta feel bad about asking for that,” he says softly, and his arm wraps around your shoulder, tugging you gently closer to him until your face is resting on his hoodie. You thought resting on a skeleton would be more uncomfortable, but it really isn’t, and he smells sweet and homey, like a mix of honey and candy.

“Thank you,” you whisper softly, and you feel him rumble in his chest as he starts stroking your hair. You feel and hear him humming something softly under his breath, and you sigh contentedly as you feel yourself drifting off into a more peaceful, easy sleep.


	5. Lions and Tigers and....SKELETONS???

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find yourself with some unexpected alone time and decide to go on an adventure!!  
> But you weren't quite expecting this MUCH of an adventure.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one got a little long, sorry! Kind of got carried away. I hope you enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think!! ~~SearchingWolf

When you wake the next morning, Stretch has already left, and part of you is glad because you feel so embarrassed. You jolt a little when you realize that you’ve slept away the morning, and it’s already noon. You decide to get up and take a nice long shower, letting the hot water soak into your back.

 _Man they’re so nice…_ you think to yourself as you finish your shower, wrapping the towel around you. _I definitely do not deserve them._

After you’re dressed you make your way into the living room, only to find it empty. You shrug to yourself before checking the dining room and kitchen, but those are empty too. So is the den, and the laundry room.

 _Maybe everyone’s just sleeping in like me..?_ You think to yourself, leaning against the wall. _Or went out to town or something._

You’re pondering what to do with your alone time when you get an awesome idea, and you cant help but grin as you race to your room. You peak out the window at the nice, sunny day, before digging around in your closet for your swimsuit. _Just a little swim wont hurt…_ you think to yourself, but you hesitate a little as you’re putting it on, Sans and Papyrus’ warning clear in your mind. But you ultimately shrug it off, knowing that you can look after yourself in the woods.

You dig out a small backpack and shove in a small blanket and a towel, replacing your mostly empty oxygen tank with a full one (and reminding yourself to take your empties back to the medical supply store to trade for fresh ones) before you pull on a skirt and a tank top over your swimsuit and slip on some loose shoes.

As you make your way towards the back door you stop, before going back into the kitchen and pulling out a sticky note from it’s container on the fridge. You pop the lid off a marker with your teeth and write your note, before slapping it onto the middle of the fridge, where it SHOULD be pretty noticeable.

_“Gone for a walk, will be back later! ~Your Human Friend, Y/N.”_

And with that done, you head out the back door, armed with your oxygen, your backpack, and a giddy smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There’s what used to be a path through the trees but it’s pretty overgrown as you make your way through the forest. You inhale deeply, taking in the smell of pine and earth, making sure you don’t catch your oxygen cart on anything. You’d been walking for a good fifteen minutes, occasionally stopping to look up and see where the sun is positioned, when you suddenly get a chill up your spine, almost like….someone is watching you. You look around, trying to be discreet, but when you don’t see anything you try and tell yourself it must be an animal and keep walking.

Just when you’re starting to think maybe you’re going the wrong way, you push through the trees and the lake is spread out before you. The water sparkles invitingly and you give an excited squeal as you hurry over to the sandy beach. You can just barely see the other side, and the entire lake is just surrounded by trees. You sigh and close your eyes, stretching your arms out as you feel the sun on your skin. You know the water will still be a bit chilly, since it’s still technically springtime, but that doesn’t bother you too much. You smile softly as you remember one time with your sibling during the winter, and they dared you to jump into the icy water. Not only did you do it, but you actually swam around and made it look like a nice summer day. The pneumonia was totally worth the bragging rights.

You kneel down and dig the blanket out of your backpack before spreading it out on the sand and putting your things on it so it doesn’t blow away. You’re slipping off your shoes when you suddenly get that feeling again, like someone must be watching, but when you spin around and check the tree line, you don’t see anything. You sit there for a moment, just staring around, but when you don’t find anything, you turn back around and slip off your skirt and tank top.

You take a few deep breathes of your oxygen before setting it aside, and you let out an excited screech as you take a running leap into the water. And BOY, it is definitely COLD, but it’s so refreshing, and you hold your breath as you dive under the water, swishing around happily.

You aren’t sure how long you spend just lazily swimming and floating in the water, occasionally moving back to your blanket to breathe from your oxygen before going back. Once your legs and arms are just starting to feel a bit sore, you wrap your towel around you and lay down on your blanket, using your backpack as a pillow. You sigh happily as you look up into the sky, making imaginary figures in the few clouds you can see. As you start to warm up underneath your towel and the sun, you eyes start to feel heavy and you give a stretch and a yawn, before you finally end up dozing off, not noticing the eyes that have been following you the entire time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You come awake with a jerk and for a minute you feel extremely disoriented, not sure where you are. When your mind starts working again you jolt up, looking around and realizing that the sun is already setting, and it’s getting pretty chilly.

 _Shit shit shit…._ You think to yourself, knowing that everyone will be worrying about where in the world you went to. You scramble around, shoving your blanket and towel into your backpack and messily throwing your skirt on, before mumbling and shoving your tanktop into the backpack as well. It’s slightly damp because you had been laying on it, so you’ll just have to go with the skirt and swimsuit.

Darkness is falling fast as you try and check your oxygen, but it’s so dark you cant quite tell how much is left. But knowing how long you were out, there probably isn’t much, so you hurry and sling your backpack over your shoulder before making your way towards….well, where you think the path is, but it’s so dark. Maybe if you take out your phone and use the flashlight……

 _Aw shit, I forgot my phone!!_ You chastise yourself. You’re starting to feel a bit panicked but you force yourself to stand and take a few deep breaths before you push back into the trees.

It’s hard, trying to make your way in the dark, and you stumble more often than not on fallen trees or bushes. The cold night air makes you shiver slightly but you keep pushing forward, praying you’re going the right way.

But after fifteen minutes, you still haven’t found the way home, and you’re really starting to feel afraid. Your body picks up on your stress and you feel like your lungs are getting tight, as if they can sense that soon your oxygen tank will run out. You push forward even faster, telling yourself _It’s fine, it just feels like it’s taking forever because I’m worried._

You take another step forward and something snags on your foot. You look down (even though you know you cant see), but before you can do anything you hear something give a TWANG, and you’re suddenly being flung into the air, surrounded by what feels like a net. You give out a loud scream as it rips the oxygen cannula from your face, causing your tank to fall to the ground outside the net.

You’re breathing heavily, tears in your eyes as you try and twist around, but you just get even more tangled.

“H-Hello?!” You yell, praying to the Stars that maybe someone, ANYONE, will hear you. “I need some help, is anyone out there?!” You feel that familiar wheezing in your chest and you push your palm against your sternum, trying to force yourself to just BREATHE.

It’s quiet for a while before you hear rustling and someone chuckling deeply, and you try to twist around to get a look at whoever it is.

“Well would you look at that…” an almost familiar voice says from somewhere in the dark. “Not what I was expectin’ to catch today.”

That voice sounds REALLY familiar, actually, if a little deeper than normal.

“S-Sans? Is that you?” You ask, shuffling some more.

You hear him scoff before you see a red eye through the darkness, and you feel yourself freeze. _Sans doesn’t have Red eyes…._ Your mind screams at you.

“Partly right. I am A Sans, but probably not the one you know,” he replies, and you give a yelp as you feel the entire net lowering to the ground. Once you feel the solid ground beneath your feet, you struggle out of the net and snatch up your oxygen, wrapping it around your ears and under your nose. You close your eyes, breathing deeply, when you hear the crunching of footsteps coming towards you. Your eyes snap open and you look up into the red eye of the skeleton standing before you.

Suddenly there’s flash of light and you have to shield your eyes for a moment, blinking heavily. When you look back up, the skeleton is holding what looks like a lantern and is now kneeling before you. _He’s….BIG_ , you think to yourself, as you look him over. You feel anxious as he looks at you with what appears to be disdain.

“You the human those boneheads up at the house keepin’ as a pet?” he remarks, scratching the side of his cheekbone. You feel yourself flush, and you want to snap at him, but your sense of self preservation gets the better of you.

“Um, I live and work there, yeah. But I’m more of a roommate, kind of…” you say softly, and this new skeleton just grunts. You’re about to ask him where he came from when your eyes land on….the huge, gaping hole in his skull. You let out a soft gasp, and before you know it you’re slowly reaching your hand out towards him.

He gives a warning growl, but he doesn’t move away, just glares at your hand when you softly place it against the side of his head, lightly tracing where the hole starts. For some reason it’s almost mesmerizing, and the words slip out of you before you even have a chance to think them.

“You’re broken too….” You whisper.

He gives a start, looking at you with a wide eye, before he slowly reaches his skeletal hand out to feel the cannula going down the side of your face. You both sit that way for a moment, silently feeling each other, when you hear crashing through the brush and you jerk backwards, this new skeleton standing up swiftly.

… _Sans, was it? He has the same name…_ you think dazedly to yourself.

“BROTHER? WHERE ARE YOU?” A booming voice calls through the trees, and New Sans chuckles.

“Over here, Paps. Caught somethin’ in the net, but I think we probably oughtta put it back,” he jokes, winking at you, and you give him a shy smile as a new skeleton comes into view.

You try not to stare, but he just looks SO MUCH like Papyrus that it’s startling. The only difference is that this Paps is A LOT taller, although even now he’s slightly hunched over, and his teeth look twisted and uneven.

“I TOLD YOU MY TRAPS WOULD CATCH THINGS!” This Paps beamed, but when his eyes fell on you, his expression turns to shock.

“OH NO!! DEAR HUMAN, ARE YOU INJURED?” he asks worriedly, wringing his hands together, and you cant help but feel bad.

“Nono, I’m alright,” you say, trying to smile reassuringly. “It’s my fault really, I didn’t realize how late it was and forgot a flashlight, and got a little lost…”

You stand shakily to your feet and brush the dirt and leaves from your skirt, before looking at them shyly. “I um…I don’t think I’ve heard of you guys, are you cousins too?” you ask, and New Sans lets out a snort as Paps scratches his skull nervously.

“Not exactly, Sweetheart,” he says, chuckling slightly. “But that might better be explained by your buddies, not out here in the dark.”

Paps steps forward, his shining smile reminding you so much of Blue and Papyrus that you feel your heart twinge a little. “FEAR NOT, HUMAN! WE WILL SAFELY ESCORT YOU BACK TO YOUR HOME!!”

New Sans quirks an eyebrow at his brother. “Wait, we will?” he asks, and his brother gives him a stern look that has you almost giggling.

“WHAT KIND OF SKELETON WOULD WE BE TO REFUSE A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS?” Paps chides, and New Sans just sighs and scratches his skull close to where the hole is.

You take the opportunity of the lantern light to check on your oxygen tank, but give out a dejected hiss when you tap it and realize that it’s almost empty. When you look back up, both skeletons are watching you curiously, although New Sans looks a little wary of your tank, like maybe it’ll jump out and bite him.

“WHAT…WHAT IS THAT, HUMAN FRIEND?” Paps asks gently, and you give him a small smile.

“It’s my oxygen tank,” you explain, tilting it forward so they can see it better. “I um…my lungs don’t really work like they should, so I have to have help breathing sometimes. But um…it’s running out, I didn’t realize I was out for so long…”

You turn over your shoulder looking back into the brush, hoping that it’s not too much farther to walk, when you feel arms scooping you up. You let out a panicked yelp, but Paps just squeezes you reassuringly.

“THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL HELP YOU, HUMAN! AND MY BROTHER TOO, OF COURSE!” He says, shooting a glance at New Sans, who sighs and picks up your tank so he can walk beside you guys.

“T-Thank you!” you say, and Paps hums happily. It’s quiet for a few moments as the three of you make your way through the forest, but they seem to know where they’re going so you try not to worry too much.

“So….the others at the house have nicknames…do you guys have nicknames too..?” You ask, breaking the silence. The fact that these two are named Sans and Papyrus hasn’t left your mind, and you’re burning up with questions, but you don’t think now’s the time to ask.

New Sans huffs a little, and you look up at Paps’ face to see that he’s got a sad smile.

“Kinda, yeah,” New Sans says. “Boneheads usually just call me Axe, and my bro Crooks.”

You’re quiet for a moment before flashing a bright smile. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Axe and Crooks! I’m Y/N!”

Axe turns and looks at you with a wide eye, but when he sees that you’re smile is genuine, he turns away, a slight red blush across his cheeks.

“AND IT IS ALSO NICE TO MEET YOU, Y/N!” Crooks says happily, and you giggle as he squeezes you lightly.

You look around and are surprised when you see the old overgrown trail that you had used to go to the lake; these guys really DID know where to go.

“So you guys don’t live at the house with the others..?” You ask tentatively, and Crooks shakes his head.

“Gotta small cabin a little ways from here,” Axe responds. “Not much, but it’s home.”

“Oh…” you say, silently wondering why they don’t live in the guest house, but realizing that it’d probably be way too small for tall Crooks anyway.

Before you can ask another question, the three of you break through the tree line and you’re greeted by the outside lights that were lighting up the backyard. You let out a sigh of relief as Crooks carries you over to the patio.

“Y/N?!” You hear a voice yell, and you internally scream knowing the kind of chewing out you’re probably about to get. Blue bursts through the back door towards you, followed closely by Red and Rus, but they all come to a halt when they see who exactly you have with you.

You give a small, shy wave. “Hey guys…” you say softly, and you shift enough to let Crooks know you’d like to be put down, which he does very gently. Axe steps up beside you, still holding your oxygen tank, and he has a strange sort of grin on his face as he and Red stare at each other. Blue rushes forwards and wraps his arms around you.

“WE WERE SO WORRIED, YOU WERE GONE FOR SO LONG AND WE DIDN’T KNOW WHERE TO LOOK!!” He cries, practically sobbing, and you pat his back reassuringly.

“Yeah, when’d the freak show get involved?” Red grumbles, and you shoot him a confused look. Rus had pulled out his phone and was talking with someone, presumably to tell them you had been found as he walked back into the house.

“Well I coulda just taken her home for dinner, but I figured you’d be missin’ her somethin’ fierce,” Axe replies, grinning even more as Red started to growl deep in his chest. You pull yourself out of Blue’s arms and step between the two of them.

“Hey look, it was my fault,” You say, trying to defend your new friends. Crooks is looking especially anxious, back to wringing his hands together. “I went down to the lake but I lost track of time, and they uh…well I got lost, so they helped me find my way back.” You left out the part of being caught in their trap because you’re pretty sure that wont win them any favors, and Axe raises an eyebrow at you. You just shrug and smile at them.

“Crooks? Thank you, so much,” you say, walking over to pat his hands, and he beams happily at you.

“OF COURSE, MY HUMAN FRIEND!” He says, bowing in an exaggerated fashion that has you giggling. You turn to Axe next.

“Thank you, too,” you say, and your eyes shift to his broken skull before you give a small smile. “Nice to know I’m not the only one with some parts missing.”

To your surprise, Axe gives a deep laugh, before stepping forward and surprising you with a soft skeleton kiss to your cheek. You face flushes and Red steps next to you, glaring threateningly, but Axe just waves to you as he and Crooks turn to leave.

“See ya ‘round, sweet heart,” Axe says, and Crooks waves at you frantically as Axe pulls him along.

“YES, I HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN SOON, Y/N!” he yells and you laugh lightly, waving back at him, until they disappear back into the trees.

Blue and Red lead you back into the house, Blue carrying your tank for you while Red puts his arms around your shoulders. You’re quiet, awaiting the reprimand, as you make your way into the living room. Blue helps you get your home unit on, and you take a few deep breaths as Red and Blue sit down next to you.

“Listen, doll…” Red starts, rubbing the back of his skull. “It’s a…probably best ya don’t hang ‘round them too much, they aint exactly the…friendliest or safest skeletons out there…”

You look at him curiously, then at Blue, who looks almost like he wants to sink into the sofa and disappear.

“But…they sure seemed nice..?” you say softly, and Red just shakes his head. “I mean they helped me get home…”

“Yeah, and we’re lucky they did that!” Red growls, and your eyes settle on the floor instead of looking into his angry face. He sighs, and you feel his fingers under your chin, tilting your head up to look at him.

“Look, Dollface, we just worry ‘bout ya,” he says, and you nod. “We’re all a bit attached to ya, we don’t want nothin’ bad to happen.”

You give a small smile but try to stifle a yawn, failing miserably.

“YOU’RE PROBABLY EXHAUSTED!” Blue remarks, before jumping to his feet. “ARE YOU HUNGRY? I THINK I HAVE SOME LEFTOVER TACOS IN THE FRIDGE!” Red rolls his eyes as he lets go of your chin and you laugh lightly.

“Actually I think I’m ok, just want to go lay down, I think,” you respond. At this point, Sans, Wine, Rus, and Edge come walking in, and Edge crosses his arms over his chest, looking at you grouchily. When he opens his mouth to speak, you hold your hands up in a pleading manner.

“I know, I know, it was stupid of me to do, I wont do it again,” you say, making Red and Sans chuckle as Edge’s mouth shuts with a loud clack. “I’m so sorry for making you guys worry, I just really wanted to check out the lake, I wasn’t expecting to get caught in a trap- “

“A WHAT?!” Edge shouts, and there’s a collective gasp from the others.

_Oops…_ you think to yourself.

“Uh, well, I mean….i-it was just a net, so I didn’t get hurt….a-and they got me out right away..!” you stammer, shrinking under Edge’s glare. He stomps away angrily, mumbling to himself about “those damn barbarians.” You let out a shaky breath and stand up quickly, winding up your oxygen cord and putting it away.

“W-well you know what, I’m pretty tired, I think I’m gonna hit the hay…” you say, hoping to sneak away before getting your new skeleton friends into even more trouble.

“Yeah, ‘course,” Red says, getting up off the couch. Blue gives you a big hug before he makes his way into the den, and Sans comes over to give you a hug as well.

“Glad your safe, kiddo,” he says, before giving you a wink. “You about scared us all outta our skin, which is pretty hard to do, seeing as we don’t have any.”

You laugh lightly at him and start heading toward the hallway, when Wine steps into stride next to you. You glance at him anxiously, waiting to see if he’s going to chew you out too, but he’s surprisingly quiet as he walks you to your room.

“I really am sorry…” you say softly, as you step towards your bed, pulling the towel from around your shoulders. You hear a soft gasp behind you, and you turn to see Wine staring at your back, eyes wide and a pained expression on his face. At this point, you remember….

_The swimming suit leaves the back of your shoulders bare…._

You feel frozen, half twisted towards him, as he slowly steps forward. His arm comes up and softly, surely, runs a gloved finger down one of the many large scars that mark your entire back. You shiver slightly, turning your face away, clutching your hands to your chest. After a moment of silence, as Wine traces a few more of them, his soft voice rings through the room.

“Who did this to you..?”

You flinch slightly at his words, before you snatch up your towel and run to your bathroom, slamming the door behind you. You lean back against it, shaking, as you wait to hear if he’s going to follow you. When he doesn’t, you sag slightly, before stripping and getting into the shower, turning it as hot as you can stand it.

 _Damnit…._ you think to yourself. _I didn’t want anyone to know…._

You stay under the water until you feel like you’re melting, and then you dry your hair before cracking the bathroom door open and peaking out. Your room is, thankfully, empty, and you sigh as you go to the closet and dig out some comfortable pajama pants and a baggy shirt. You feel the exhaustion setting in as you turn on your oxygen and climb into the bed, snuggling deep into the pillows and blankets.

You bite your fingers nervously, and even though you’re so tired, you cant seem to go straight to sleep. After a while of staring at the wall, you sit up and grab your phone, pulling up your texts and finding Wine’s number. You type up your message but hesitate for just a moment before hitting send. After a while you hear a slight knocking on your door, and you clamber out of your bed to open it, letting Wine step into your room.

Your lamp on the desk gives off just enough light that you can see his expression. He’s trying not to let his worry show, but he has that crinkle between his eyes that you’ve come to know as his “worry tell”. You give a soft sigh as you sit back on the corner of your bed, looking away from his eyes.

“Please don’t tell anyone…” you say softly, and you feel the bed shift as Wine sits down next to you. He nods silently and waits, giving you the freedom to speak or keep quiet. You take in a shaky breath, running your hands down your legs.

“I um…didn’t have the easiest upbringing…” you say slowly, trying to choose your words carefully so you don’t get emotional. “My father…well, he probably shouldn’t ever have BEEN a father. From an early age, I was…a punching bag, basically.”

You see out of the corner of your eye that Wine’s hand has clenched up into a ball. You close your eyes, trying to keep your breathing steady.

“As I got older, the worse it got. The more violent he got. He made it impossible for me to leave, to get out on my own,” you say, shaking your head at the memories. “But I finally got out. It took everything I had, but I finally ran. And I’ve been running ever since, trying to keep a step ahead of him so he can never find me.”

Your eyes come open when you feel Wine’s arm come up around your shoulder, pulling you to him in a hug. He holds you close, and you suck in a breath, trying to fight back the tears that have welled up in your eyes.

“Please don’t tell…please…”you whisper softly, and you feel him murmur against you, petting your hair lightly.

He just holds you there for a while, and you feel your eyes becoming heavier as you struggle to stay awake. When you body starts to relax, you feel him pick you up in his arms and softly tuck you back into your bed, bringing the covers over you. You mumble sleepily and reach out and grab his hand in yours, making him stop for a moment, before he chuckles and leans forward to give your forehead a soft kiss with his teeth.

“Don’t worry. You’re safe here, my dear,” he whispers softly, patting your hand as he softly puts it down. “Nothing will harm you…not as long as I have something to say about it.”

You hum groggily, but before you can respond, you’re drifting off into sleep.


	6. Cat's Out of the Bag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some unfortunate news crops up, but you're surprised to find that you have a lot more support than you expected. And one of your skeleton friends leaves you feeling quite a bit flustered!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your comments so far! It makes me happy knowing some people actually like this fic, or at least dont hate it!  
> We're slowly getting in to some of the nitty-gritty parts of Reader's past, but it's definitely just the tip of the iceberg!   
> As always, let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy!

The next morning, your body feels like you’ve been hit by a semi truck. You groan as you slide out of bed and limb towards the bathroom, cursing yourself for falling asleep on the hard ground yesterday. You turn on the water as hot as you can stand it and slide into the bathtub, hoping maybe it’ll loosen up your stiff muscles and joints.

You stay in there for quite a while before you get out, wrapping the towel around you and stepping back into your room. To your surprise, Papyrus is there, standing next to your bed with a tray of….well, they look somewhat like pancakes, if a little lopsided, with a side of burnt bacon and a cup of something brown.

“GOOD MOR-“ Papyrus starts to say, but when he looks over and sees you in a towel, his cheekbones dust orange. “O-OH, I’M SORRY! I JUST WANTED TO BRING YOU BREAKFAST! I THOUGHT YOU’D BE HUNGRY AFTER YESTERDAY!”

You smile at him warmly. “Thank you Paps, that means a lot to me. Um…would you mind uh, turning around for a minute…? So I can get dressed..?” You ask shyly, stepping over to your closet. Papyrus immediately whips around, covering his eyes with one hand for good measure. You laugh lightly as you pull out some loose, comfy clothes, and change quickly, before you walk over and tap his shoulder. He peeks through his eyes at you, then drops his hand with a smile.

“You’re very thoughtful,” you say, before trying to climb up onto your bed, but you cant quite hide the grimace on your face as your body screams at you in pain, and Papyrus notices immediately.

“Y/N? ARE YOU HURT??” he asks, leaning towards you with an arm coming up. You try to give him a smile and shake your head.

“No I’m alright, it’s just some health issues cropping up,” you say, trying to play it off, but Papyrus still looks worried and sits down on the side of the bed next to you. When he reaches a hand towards you, you flinch reflexively, but when you realize he isn’t going to hurt you, you give him a warm smile. He looks determined as he puts a hand between your shoulders, and your eyes go wide as you feel a warmth spreading through your body. It doesn’t take ALL of the aches and pains away, but it helps tremendously, and you gasp softly as you roll your shoulders.

“I’M NOT THE MOST SKILLED AT HEALING, AND MAGIC CANT HEAL EVERYTHING, BUT I HOPE IT HELPED A LITTLE!” Papyrus says, almost nervously, as he takes his hand away. You set the breakfast tray off to the side before flinging your arms around him, and he grunts in surprise before wrapping his arms around you.

“Thank you, Papyrus!!” You say, laughing softly. “That was amazing, I feel so much better!”

Papyrus beams and that blush is back on his cheeks. “O-OF COURSE YOU ARE VERY WELCOME!” He says, before he gets up and leaves you with your breakfast. To be fair, you DO try to eat most of it, but the bits that are too burnt or too raw you just scrape aside and put into your garbage can that you’ll take out later. You don’t want Papyrus to think you don’t like his cooking, especially after he went through all that trouble!

At the thought of Papyrus and being nice, your mind drifts to the two new skeletons you met yesterday, and your heart tugs a little. Axe and Crooks _…..except they didn’t seem the happiest with those names_ , you think to yourself as you make your way to the kitchen with your tray and plate. _Maybe I can see about seeing them again sometime, to thank them…_

It’s the weekend, so most of the guys are home today, and you’re greeted with a volley of “Hello” and “Good Morning” as you get to the sink, where you wash your dishes and put them away. Red, Sans, Rus, and Stretch are at the table playing some kind of card game, while Edge and Wine are sitting in the living room. Blue is on the floor playing a video game with Papyrus who is in a chair, and Cash is…nowhere to be found, of course. You smile as you sit down at the table to watch the boys play.

“What’re you guys playing?” You ask, and Sans and Red both give you a warm smile.

“Bullshit!!” Stretch yells, pointing at Rus, who grumbles and picks up the pile of cards, making you laugh.

“Stretch is impossible to beat at this,” Sans says chuckling, as they go through their rounds.

“Wanna play, sweetheart?” Red asks, winking at you, but before you can respond your phone starts ringing in your pocket. You pull it out to see the number to your old work, and you stand up to step away from the table.

“I’d love to, just let me take this real quick,” You respond, and Red grins happily. You answer the phone while stepping back into the kitchen to get a cup to fill with water.

“Hello?”

“Heya, Y/N, It’s Ron, from your old work. I just wanted to call about your last paycheck..”

_Oh yeah, you had forgotten to go get it…or give them your new address._

“Oh crap, I’m sorry! I can come down to pick it up,” you say, taking a small drink of your water as you lean against the counter. Sans glances at you curiously and you just give him a smile.

“Actually, you don’t need to! Your family came and they said they’d give it to you.” Ron says, and your entire body freezes.

“W-what do you mean..?” you say numbly.

“Yeah your Father came, said he was wanting to check on you, and when I said you didn’t work here anymore and we hadn’t heard from you for your final paycheck, he offered to take it and give it to you when he saw you! Real nice guy, too!”

You can feel your body beginning to tremble, and the glass slips out of your fingers and hits the floor, shattering into pieces, but your boss just keeps talking.

“I went ahead and gave him your number, he said he’d lost it, so he can get ahold of you!” your old boss says.

You hear the blood rushing in your ears as you hang up, bringing your other hand up to cover your mouth. You feel movement around you but it isn’t until someone grabs your arms softly that you snap up, looking into someone’s face. You can see them talking but you still cant quite hear anything, and you shake your head before trying to take a deep breath.

“Y/N? Are you alright? You’re shakin’, badly,” Stretch’s voice rings out, and you shake your head again before looking down at the glass.

“Y-Yeah, I’m ok, I’m sorry. Just uh…lost my grip there..” you stammer out, trying to play it off. “I’m so sorry, I’ll clean this up-“

But you can see Sans already getting a dust pant and broom, and you give a small yelp as Stretch picks you up to move you.

“Don’t want you cuttin’ those pretty feet of yours,” He says with a wink, but the concern still shows on his face when his compliment doesn’t even phase you. He sets you down at the table next to Red, who puts a hand on your shoulder. Rus leans over the table towards you.  
  


“What’s wrong, kitten?” He asks, and you just shake your head, not wanting to say. You don’t want them to know, you don’t want ANYONE to know, you don’t want to get them involved.

“N-nothing, really, I’m-“

“Nah, you aint fine, doll,” Red says, squeezing your shoulder gently. Sans sits down across from you next to Rus as Stretch sits down on your other side. “That much’s clear.”

You let out a breath as you put your head in your hands on the table. After a moment of silence, you finally speak.

“I don’t want to get you guys involved,” you say softly, trying not to look at anyone. “You’ve already done so much for me. The least I can do is not be even more of a burden than I am now.”

You jump slightly when you feel another hand come down on your other shoulder, and you turn your head to see that it’s actually Edge, looking at you with a stern face.

“YOU ARE NOT A BURDEN…” he says firmly, and you feel tears well in your eyes as you look away.

“We want to help, if you’ll let us, kiddo,” Sans says, giving you a lopsided smile. You let out a shaky breath and close your eyes, trying to find the courage to try and explain.

“My….old boss called. I forgot to pick up my last check, and I forgot to give them your address…” you say slowly, trying to calculate each thing you say to give the minimum information. “…my father showed up there, so they gave my paycheck…and my phone number…to him…”

You can feel yourself begin to shake more, and you shake your head. “He…is not…a good man,” you finally say. “I am terrified of him…and now he knows my number, and has my paycheck…”

You open your eyes finally, peaking around you, waiting to see the looks on their faces. You’re expecting them to be doubtful, like everyone else was, or disgusted at your weakness. You’re shocked when what you actually find….

Is concern? And fiery protectiveness, glowing in the eyes of everyone around you.

“How would you like to handle this?” Sans asks, and you just stare at him without a word. “We can go with you to pick it up, if you’d like. Or, if you can live without that last paycheck, we can just ignore it, and change your phone.”

“OR BOTH.” Edge growls, and you feel a huge sense of relief spread through you.

“You…you guys believe me..?” you say softly, and they all look surprised.

“Of course, honey. Why wouldn’t we?” Stretch asks grabbing your hand in his and giving it a squeeze. You let out a shaky laugh as you fight back tears.

“He’s an ex cop… no one’s ever believed me over him..” you say softly, and you feel three different hands give you another squeeze.

“’Course we believe ya, Doll,” Red says, his voice surprisingly soft. You give him a smile and cover his hand on your shoulder with yours, before taking a deep breath.

“I…I don’t want to be afraid of him anymore…” you say slowly. “But…I don’t know how to face him…”

“I THINK I HAVE A FEW IDEAS…” Edge says smugly while Red chuckles menacingly. You open your mouth to speak again, but when your phone starts to ring once more, you freeze. You pull it out of your pocket only to see that it’s an unknown number, and you begin to shake again, before Stretch plucks it right out of your hand and stands up and away from you. You give out a “Hey!” and try to get up to take it back, but Edge holds you still, and you give him a glare that he just grins at, while Stretch answers.

“Heya, Y/N’s phone,” he says lazily, leaning back against the wall. He listens for a moment, before responding to whoever is on the other end.

“No yeah, I know who ya are….No, she doesn’t want to talk with you. So how’s about you and me chat?” You feel a bit of panic rising, but Edge is STILL holding you into your chair, making you try to shove him off so you can get up.

“….boy you gotta mouth on you, huh?” Stretch chuckles darkly. “Tell you what…how about we meet, you give us Y/N’s paycheck, and then you lose her number, yeah?”

It’s quiet for a moment and you’ve struggled to get up so many times that Edge has now wrapped his arms around you to keep you in your chair. You stare at Stretch with wide eyes as he nods.

“Name the time and place,” he says tersely. “Somewhere public, of course….” After another moment, he finally says “We’ll be there,” before hanging up and you finally sag back against your chair, Edge finally removing his arms.

“Rus?” Stretch asks, and Rus stands up, takes your phone from him, before he walks out of the room and thumps up the stairs. Stretch gives you a warm smile.

“Rus’ll make sure that number stays blocked. Your bastard father wants to meet up next week, so we’ll go ahead for you, so you do-“

“Nono, you guys cant do that,” You say, shaking your head. “He’s an ex cop!! He’ll try and pull some kind of trick and get you in trouble. I have to be there!” Red growls next to you while Stretch and Sans share a look.

“We’ll go with her…” You hear a voice say behind you, and you twist to see Wine standing next to Edge. “I believe Edge and I should give your father pause enough that he wont try anything public.”

“AND IF HE DOES, WELL…” Edge chuckles maliciously. “HE’LL GET A BONE SOMEWHERE HE DOESN’T WANT ONE.”

You have to sit there for a moment, breathing deeply, before you smile warmly, your face blushing slightly.

“Thank you…Thank you all, so much,” you say softly, and the guys all smile back at you. “I’ve never…I’ve never had anyone on my side before.”

“Well now you have your own skeleton army, kiddo,” Sans says with a wink, making you giggle.

~~~~~~~

You spend the rest of the day playing Mario Kart with Blue and Papyrus, holding your own against them both. You’re all a laughing mess and Blue grumbles when you take the lead, but the next thing you know, a wild Stretch has flopped himself across your lap.

“Stretch!!” You gripe, laughing, as you try to scooch underneath him. “You cheater!”

“But I’m just so tiiiiiiirrreeeeed…” he drawls, flinging his arms up in your line of sight. Blue and Papyrus laugh as they both pass you, and you scoff as you glare down at the smug skeleton in your lap.

“Betrayal! I feel absolute betrayal,” you say, trying so hard to keep a smile off your face. “Helping your brother cheat on a poor little lady!”

“What can I say? The view is just so much better down here,” Stretch remarks, giving you a wink, and you feel your face flush red, making him chuckle.

“KEEP HER BUSY BROTHER!!” Blue laughs, turning with his controller as if moving his body will make him turn better.

“Oh I don’t think so!!” You shout, pinning Stretch’s hands down with your own, trying to keep him out of your way. “Just watch, I’ll beat you WHILE being distracted!”

Papyrus laughs so hard he falls behind Blue, and you grin as you see yourself coming up on him.

“OH NO!! I’VE FALLEN BEHIND!” Papyrus yells, before leaning forward with a determined look on his face. You giggle as you zoom around him.

“Sorry Paps!” You say, before flinging out a blue shell and laughing evilly. Blue lets out a gasp when it finally catches him, and you feel Stretch shifting on you.

“OH CHEAP SHOT!!” Blue yells, and you’re just gaining on him when you feel hands on the sides of your head. You go to glance down only to see Stretch’s face come up as he traps you in a kiss, you letting out a surprise gasp, your controller going limp in your hands. You can feel his smug grin as… _is that a tongue??_ slips into your mouth, softly caressing your own.

“AH HA! I WIN!” Blue crows, throwing his hands up in victory as he crosses the finish line, and Papyrus yells “SECOND PLACE!!” happily, when Stretch pulls back from you with a lazy grin. You sit there in shock, your face absolutely flushed, when he finally gets up off of you. Blue and Papyrus didn’t even notice, so happy that they’d won, and Stretch gives your cheek a stroke before he stands up.

“Good job Bro!’ He says, giving you a wink as he leaves the room. Blue grins happily, fist bumping Papyrus who returns it with just as much gusto, as you bring your fingers up to touch your lips.

 _He tasted sweet, just like honey…_ you think to yourself, still blushing furiously. Suddenly Sans and Red shortcut into the walkway, making you jump (you STILL aren’t used to that), holding an armful of bags.

“Dinner Time, curtesy of Grillby’s!” Sans says happily, while Red takes his armful to the dining table. Blue gets up and shuts off the gaming system as Papyrus grumbles about “not the healthiest food”, but they both make their way towards the table. Sans gives you a curious look, and you drop your hand from your lips.

“You ok, kiddo?” he asks, and you nod rapidly.

“Y-yeah, fine!” you say, voice higher than usual, and Sans raises an eyebrow. Stretch plods down the stairs and gives you a wink as he goes to the table, and you stand quickly, trying to keep yourself from blushing some more.

“Thanks for dinner Sans, I’m just going to go wash up real quick,” you say as you move quickly towards the hall. He smiles as he takes his own bags to the table, and you make it to your bathroom, shutting the door behind you. You give out a small girly squeal as you lean your head against the door, before splashing cool water on your face.

 _He was just goofing, trying to make me flustered so his brother would win_ , you tell yourself firmly. _Nothing to get flustered over!_

And yet, you cant seem to get the feeling and the sweet honey taste out of your mind for the rest of the evening. After dinner, when Rus finally gives you your phone back (Now Dad-Free!) you manage to get Blue on his own and you tug him into the hallway, his eyes lighting up curiously.

“Hey Blue, um…I have a favor to ask..?” You say softly, checking to make sure no one else is listening. “Would you happen to have Axe or Crook’s phone numbers..? I just really want to thank them for being so nice and bringing me home…”

Blue hesitates for a moment, also looking around to make sure no one is looking. But when he turns back to you and sees your wide, pleading eyes, he gives a sigh and pulls out his phone.

“YES, I HAVE THEIR NUMBERS. JUST…BE CAREFUL, OK?” he says nervously, and you nod happily as he tells you their numbers and you put them into your phone.

“Thank you Blue!” You whisper happily before giving him a hug. He blushes an adorable blue (just like his name, you giggle to yourself) before you disappear to your room.

You get into your pajama’s and put your oxygen on before diving into your bed, burrowing into the blankets with your phone. You smile as you bring up your texts before sending one to Crooks, who you put in your phone as “Other Papyrus”.

**XXX: Hey there, it’s Y/N! I just wanted to say thank you again for being so nice and bringing me all the way home. I’d love to make it up to you sometime, maybe make you dinner or something!**

As you’re sending one to “Other Sans”, you get a reply from Crooks, but you finish your one to Axe first.

**XXX: Heya, it’s Y/N! Just wanted to say thank you, you and your brother were very nice! I’m sorry I tripped the trap, but I told your brother I’d love to make you dinner sometime to make things up to you!**

You smile happily as you check you text from Crooks.

**Other Papyrus: IT WAS OUR PLEASURE, HUMAN FRIEND! AND WE WOULD LOVE THE COMPANY! WOULD TWO DAYS FROM NOW BE ALRIGHT? I CAN EVEN COME AND PICK YOU UP!**

You happily respond, letting him know that’s perfect, when you finally get a response from Axe.

**Other Sans: What does a cannibal call a date?**

You think for a minute, but you don’t have an answer when he texts again.

**Other Sans: Take out.**

You bust out giggling, amused at his dark sense of humor, before you send your response.

**XXX: That joke was so bad, I could hardly “stomach” it.**

**Other Sans: Yeah, I guess it might be a little hard to “digest”…**

**XXX: You should go on tour, you’ll have people eating (out of) the palm of your hands!**

Before you know it, you’re drifting off to sleep, thoughts of kisses and jokes dancing through your head.


	7. It's DINNER Time!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You finally take dinner to your two new Skeletons friends!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, finally get more time with the Horror Boys!!  
> Let me know what you think, I hope I'm not moving too fast with everything!  
> As always, I hope you enjoy!!

The next day goes by quickly, and it’s the evening before your dinner with Axe and Crooks when you sit down on the couch next to Sans and Red and try to broach the topic.

“Hey, Sans?” You ask, fiddling with your sleeve a little. He looks over at you curiously while Red yawns, watching some MTT show on the television.

“So, I offered to take dinner to Axe and Crooks tomorrow, as a thank you for-“

“WHAT?!” Red shouts, turning around to look at you with wide eyes. Sans is also looking at you with wide eyes, shaking his head.

“Look, Kiddo, that may not be the best idea…” Sans says, rubbing the back of his skull.

“MAY not? ‘S a fuckin’ horrible idea!” Red growls. “Ya aint going, Doll, that’s final. They’s bad news!”

You stare at Red for a quiet moment, before you settle into your glare and take a deep breath.

“I’m an adult, I can do whatever I want, thank you very much,” You say, causing him to let out another growl. You can see sweat beading on Sans’ skull, but you push forward. “I want to thank them for bringing me home, and maybe get to know them. I’ve gotten to know you all pretty well, they deserve a CHANCE.”

“FOR ONCE I HAVE TO AGREE WITH RED,” a voice says behind you, and you whip around to see Black standing there, his eyes bright and fierce. “WE CANT ALLOW YOU TO GO WITH THOSE…BARBARIANS!”

You feel the anger rising in you as you slowly get to your feet, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Look, I’m going, whether you all like it or not. I just wanted to be courteous and let you know,” You growl, and you turn to stomp away when a hand grabs your arm, stopping you. You turn and glare at Sans, who gives a sigh and rubs his hand down his face.

“Look…if you’re so determined to go…will you at least let someone go WITH you?” he asks, and you stare at him a moment as you ponder his request. You sigh, shaking your head finally.

“If it’ll make you guys less worried, then fine, I will let ONE of you come with me,” you respond, and it seems to finally calm them down a little. Black walks off grumbling under his breath, and Red slumps back into his chair, not making eye contact as Sans gives you a grateful smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, you’re in the kitchen making your signature chicken alfredo as you watch the clock, to make sure you’re prepared for when Crooks or Axe come to get you.

When it’s finally done, you put it all into a large Tupperware, along with the side of vegetables and garlic bread. You turn and put everything into a large tote, and almost bump into Papyrus.

“Oh hey Paps!” you say happily, and he gives you a warm smile. “What’re you up to?”

“WELL, I AM YOUR CHAPERONE!” he says, beaming, as he takes the tote from out of your hands. Your eyes widen in surprise a little, but you recover quickly with a smile. Papyrus is such a warm and friendly guy, so there shouldn’t be any trouble with him and Axe and Crooks.

“Oh, ok! Well thank you!” you respond, and your phone goes off in your pocket. You pull it out to see that Crooks has texted you, letting you know he is outside on the back porch waiting for you. “Oh, looks like he’s here! Just let me go get ready!”

You rush to your room and throw on a nice blouse and slacks, putting your hair into a nice braid before you grab your backpack and shove in two of your oxygen tanks. You hoist it up onto your back, winding the cannula across your face, before making your way back to Papyrus.

“READY?” He asks warmly, and you nod happily. But when you try to take the tote from him, he just tuts at you and holds it up over your head so you cant grab it. You sigh, before giving him a soft bump with your shoulder as you head to the back door.

You cant help but smile when you see Crooks through the sliding door. He’s dressed in a nice set of pants and a dress shirt with a tie, although the tie isn’t quite long enough.

“Hi!!” You say as you go through the door.

“HELLO Y/N! I’M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!” he says, jumping forward to give you a soft hug. You giggle a little before turning to introduce Papyrus.

“I hope it’s ok that Papyrus comes too..?” you ask, a little worriedly, but Crooks just nods with a smile on his face.

“OF COURSE! THE MORE THE MERRIER!” he says.

“IT’S NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN!” Papyrus says happily, and it gives you a nice, warm feeling to see these two getting alone.

“Ok, so where do we need to go?” You ask, hitching your backpack higher up. You’re hoping the walk wont be too far, but that’s why you packed two tanks.

“AH, DON’T WORRY, I WILL SHOW YOU THE WAY!” Crooks says sweeping into a bow that has you giggling again. You frown in confusion, however, when he turns and kneels down in front of you, with his back to you.

“Uh…Crooks..?” you ask, and he throws you a smile over his shoulder.

“HOP ON, GOOD HUMAN FRIEND! I WOULDN’T WANT YOU TO BE TIRED BEFORE WE EVEN GET THERE!” he says brightly, and you hesitate for just a moment before walking over to him.

“Um…are you sure I wont hurt-WOAH!!” you let out a yelp as he reaches back with his arms and hoists you up onto his back, piggy-back ride style. You gasp a little as he stands up straight, wrapping your arms around his neck (trying not to strangle him), and seeing just how tall he is. Boy you thought Papyrus was tall, holy crap!

Papyrus gives a chuckle as he falls into step next to Crooks, and the three of you make your way into the forest. To you, it seems like you’re just wandering aimlessly, but as Papyrus and Crooks talk for the next fifteen minutes, you start to notice another somewhat overgrown trail that they are following. You laugh lightly as Papyrus and Crooks start to get in depth about puzzles and traps.

“So Crooks, how long have you and your brother been living out here?” you ask when there’s a break in the conversation.

“OH, I THINK ABOUT A YEAR NOW! WE USED TO LIVE WITH PAPYRUS AND THE OTHERS, BUT WE DECIDED WE LIKED OUR PRIVACY,” Crooks responds, and you hum a little in response.

“Ok yeah, I can see that. I’m introverted too so I can definitely see needing your own space,” you say, which makes Crooks laugh heartily.

“Y/N, YOU’RE JUST LIKE US! I KNEW WE WOULD BE GREAT FRIENDS!” he says happily, making you laugh too.

It takes another ten minutes before you come into what looks like a small meadow, and there’s an old cabin before you. You frown as you take it in; it’s definitely one that could use some repairs, but it looks like they’ve done the best they can.

“It’s pretty out here!” you say, taking in the scenery, making Crooks beam.

“YES, I LOVE THE FLOWERS!” Papyrus says happily, running his hands through a group of what looked like wild cornflowers. You giggle as he plucks one and leans up to softly tuck it into your braid, giving him a big smile that he returns with a slight blush on his cheekbones.

“MY BROTHER SHOULD BE WAITING INSIDE!” Crooks says as you make your way to the front door. Papyrus opens it and Crooks ducks down as he steps inside. You peak over his shoulder to see Axe sitting on the couch, watching you three warily. You give him a warm smile and wave at him.

“Hi Axe!!” you say as Crooks kneels down to let you hop off. You try to step down softly, so you don’t hurt him, before you step closer to the couch. “I brought dinner; I hope that’s ok!”

Axe stares behind you at Papyrus, who waves a little nervously, before he gives an affirmative grunt in response. You try not to take it too personally as you turn towards Papyrus.

“I guess I’ll go ahead and dish things out, is that alright?” you say, but Papyrus refuses to give you the heavy tote and instead makes his way towards the kitchen.

“OF COURSE!” Crooks says, nodding happily, as he follows you. Papyrus sets the tote on the counter and you begin pulling the stuff out as Crooks digs into the cupboards to take out plates. You hum happily to yourself as you begin dishing out portions for the two skeleton brothers, making sure to give them large amounts because jeez, they’re so big!! They must need a lot of food for energy!!

Papyrus hands you silverware and you tuck it into the plate in your hands before you hand it to Crooks with a smile.

“THANK YOU, Y/N, IT LOOKS AND SMELLS DELICIOUS!” he crows happily, and you feel a happy warmth through your body.

“You are very welcome, it’s the least I could do!” you respond, before making another heaping plate for Axe. Papyrus is happily jabbering away with Crooks while he makes his own plate, and you make a smaller plate for yourself before you cradle them in your arms and head towards the living room. Axe is just watching the television when you plop down next to him, making him look over at you with an eyebrow bone raised.

You give him a big smile as you hold out the plate, and he slowly takes it in his large hands. He stares at the food for a quiet moment, and you can see his thoughts swirling around in his mind.

“It’s safe, I swear, look!” you say and use your fork to take a small bit off of his plate, popping it into your mouth. “See?” you say after swallowing, and he just looks at you with that calculating red eye.

You try to hide your nervousness as you use his fork to scoop up some more, before holding it out to him.

“Say “Ahh”,” you say, and his mouth drops open in surprise. You giggle as you take the opportunity and pop the food in his mouth before he can reject. His teeth clamp around the food as you pull the fork out, and he actually hums appreciatively as he chews his food. You smile as you put his fork back on his plate.

“Good?” you ask, digging into your own plate as Crooks and Papyrus enter the room, Papyrus sitting on your other side as Crooks sits down in one of the armchairs that is waaaay too small for him.

Axe nods as he digs into his own food with vigor, and it’s quiet for a while as the four of you just happily eat, watching some goofy comedy on the television. Once everyone is finished with their food, Axe actually gets up and goes back for seconds, making you feel happy and proud.

“I’m glad you guys liked it, thank you for letting me!” you say, and Crooks beams at you.

“OF COURSE, HOW COULD I TURN DOWN SUCH DELECTABLE FOOD FROM MY GOOD NEW HUMAN FRIEND?” he says, and you laugh lightly.

“Yeah, **tibia** honest, I wouldn’t mind having you over for dinner more often,” Axe jokes, giving you a wink, making you laugh and blush.

“Well you know what, I think I could arrange that,” you say as you stand and take your plate to the kitchen to wash and put away. There’s still plenty of food, so you decide to leave it for them to have as leftovers; they definitely seemed hungry!

The rest of the evening is filled with talking, joking, and laughter. You didn’t realize just how FUNNY Axe could be, but by the end of your visit you almost have a headache from laughing so much. You find out that Crooks loves puzzles just as much as Papyrus, and he loves to cook as well! Axe clearly loves jokes and puns, but his humor is a little darker than Sans or Stretch.

 _Maybe it has something to do with the hole in his skull…_ you think to yourself, but you don’t feel you’re close enough to ask him about that just yet. You check your watch and realize it’s actually a lot later than you expected. You pull off your backpack to check your tanks, seeing that you’re dangerously close to low on the one, so you swap to the other one. When you look back up, Axe is watching you intently, and you smile as you tip your bag closer so you can show him what it is you’re doing. He reaches a hand out and softly taps the tank with a claw, as you turn it on.

“These pump air,” you explain as you take his hand and pull the cannula off your face. You hold it to his hands, and his fingers twitch when he feels the air blowing on his fingers. “See?”

“Yeah…” he says softly, before taking his hand back and giving you a lopsided grin. “You’re broken too…”

You grin right back as he tosses your own words back at you. “Yep! Just like you!” He laughs heartily before throwing an arm around your shoulder, giving you a squeeze.

“I like you, Sweetie,” he says, making you blush a little, before Papyrus gets to his feet.

“WELL Y/N, WE SHOULD PROBABLY HEAD HOME, BEFORE THE OTHERS WORRY ABOUT US!” he remarks, and Crooks and Axe both stand up.

“I CAN TAKE YOU BACK!” Crooks says, but Axe puts a hand on his arm.

“How about ya let me, this time, ok bro?” He asks. You and Papyrus share a glance as Crooks looks at his brother curiously, before smiling brightly.

“OF COURSE, BROTHER! ENJOY THE FRESH AIR!!” he says happily, before he bends down and picks you up in his arms, giving you a twirl as you squeal and laugh. “THANK YOU, Y/N! I’M SO HAPPY TO HAVE A NEW FRIEND!!”

You almost feel tears prickle your eyes as you hug him back; now you’re determined to visit them more often, they’re such sweethearts!!

“Me too!! I’ll come visit again soon, ok?” you say as he puts you down, and you hitch your backpack onto your back again as you wave goodbye and follow Papyrus out the door, Axe following behind you.

You take a deep breath, taking in the cool night air and looking up at the beautiful stars, when Axe kneels down in front of you. You grin and softly climb onto him, and he hoists you up easily before the three of you start to make your way back.

The trip back is actually pretty quiet though; Axe and Papyrus don’t talk quite as much as Crooks and Papyrus did. But when you feel a deep rumbling against your chest, you realize that Axe is softly singing something under his breath. After a little while, you feel your head droop onto his shoulder, enjoying the sound and feeling and closing your eyes to just enjoy it.

Before you know it, you’re at the back porch of the house, and Axe turns and kneels down to let you step off, which you do gently. He turns back to face you and you reach out to give him a small hug.

“Thanks for letting me hang out!” you say, and he chuckles deeply. You suck in a surprised breath as he leans forward and gives your cheek a soft kiss, before winking at you.

“Anytime,” he says, and then he’s off, walking towards the tree line before he disappears. You’re blushing furiously as you and Papyrus head inside, and you head to the living room where Black, Edge, Sans, and Red are on the couch, Blue once again playing a game on the floor, and Stretch sprawled across one of the chairs. Rus and Cash must be upstairs already, and you see Wine sitting at the dining table working on what looks like a pile of files, so you step into the living room, shrug off your backpack, and plop down between Edge and Sans.

“Good evening, kiddo?” Sans asks, and you nod happily as Papyrus sits down next to Blue to watch what he’s playing.

“It actually was, yeah,” you respond, and Sans smiles, his face relieved. You sit there, snuggled between Edge and Sans, and your eyes slowly start to droop. You try very hard to stay awake, but eventually you end up slumping sideways into Edge, leaning against his shoulder. You hear him huff slightly, but the next thing you know, his arm has actually wormed around your shoulders, and you give out a soft sigh as you drift further into sleep, vaguely aware of Sans hand grabbing yours and holding it. You smile before the darkness envelops you, feeling safe and warm smooshed between your skeleton friends.


	8. Showdown Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The meeting with your abusive father has finally arrived, and it makes you realize how much danger you're putting your newfound family in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one has a bit of uncomfortable past abuse references, and a real douche of a dad, so read at your own risk!  
> As always, let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy!!

The next week seems to go by in the blink of an eye, and the closer you get to the visit with your father, the more anxious and stressed you become. By the time the day in question comes, you’re a ball of stress, wound as tight as can be.

You’re pacing in the front walkway, absently watching Sans and Red talking about some kind of mechanical jargon, when Wine and Edge come down the stairs. Red gets up from the table and gives you a reassuring smile. You try to give him one back, but you know it doesn’t reach your eyes when Wine gives your arm a soft squeeze.

“Are ya sure you wanna do this, sweetheart?” Red asks, and you nod quietly. “Cuz you don’t hafta be there if you don’t wanna.”

“I don’t want to be there,” you say softly, “But I NEED to be there. He’ll be less likely to pull something if I’m there.”

Red gives you a nod before stepping forward and giving you a hug. You grip his jacket tightly before he lets go and heads towards the living room.

“Ready?” Wine asks, and you nod as Edge opens the front door for you. The three of you walk towards the driveway, you dragging your oxygen tank behind you, before Edge gets into a sleek black car that looks very fancy and fast. Edge gets into the driver’s seat and Wine helps you get your tank into the backseat before he climbs into the passenger’s side. Edge pulls out of the driveway, and you look out the window, not really taking in anything as you worry over what the visit will be like.

The drive goes on for a while and you can hear Edge and Wine talking back and forth as you notice the trees disappearing, replaced by more and more houses. You recognize the city, where you had previously lived and worked, as Edge slows down and begins working his way through the streets. Another few minutes later and he’s pulling into the parking lot of what looks like a park. You feel yourself begin to shake slightly and you try to take deep breaths as the two skeletons get out of the car. Wine opens your door and you step out before dragging your oxygen out. Edge gives you a calculating look before he takes your left side, Wine taking your right side.

“You ready?” Wine asks, and you nod shakily.

“DON’T WORRY HUMAN, HE WONT GET PAST US,” Edge says menacingly, and you cant help but feel a little grateful for the fact that Edge can definitely feel and look pretty intimidating. The three of you begin walking down one of the paths around the park.

Your eyes are darting back and forth, taking in every person, every sound, every movement, as you walk. You glance at Edge who appears to be doing the same, and at Wine, who is walking with his hands clasped behind his back, his face the picture of calm. You try to calm yourself too, but when you look forward again, you stop in your tracks, because you’ve finally spotted _him._

You feel Wine’s hand in the middle of your back, softly pushing you forward with him as Edge takes the lead. Your father is looking around, his hands holding an envelope in front of him, when he finally catches sight of Edge. His eyebrows raise and you watch his stance shift, as if he’s trying to puff himself up to look more intimidating.

That is, until he finally sees _you._

His eyes narrow, and a sneer plays at his lips as the three of you get closer. Just looking at him makes you terrified, and the scars on your back feel like they’re on fire, a reminder of his abuse. Once you’re close enough, the three of you stop, leaving a good ten feet between you. It’s silent for a moment as Edge and Wine size him up, and you take a deep breath before finally raising your eyes to meet your father’s.

“Well well….you sure know how to pick em,” Your father says mockingly, as he crosses his arms in front of him.

“INDEED,” Edge responds. “SHE IS GOOD AT PICKING THOSE WHO WILL PROTECT HER, INSTEAD OF HURT HER.”

Your father turns a glare at Edge, and you feel a shiver run down you at the anger in his eyes.

“Let me guess…she’s told you aaalll about all the “horrible” things I supposedly did to her, hm?” Your father asks before chuckling. “She’s always been a bit…. Overdramatic. I wouldn’t take everything she says at face value.”

You’re still terrified of him, but your anger at his remark overrides the fear.

“You liar…” you say, voice trembling, and Wine grips your shoulder softly but firmly, keeping you in place. “You always try to make it seem like _I’m_ the one lying, but I have the fucking MARKS to PROVE what you’ve done to me.”

Your father’s entire demeanor changes in an instant, and he takes a threatening step forward. Edge immediately steps in front of you as you jerk backwards, Wine’s arm keeping you from tumbling.

“Listen here you little bitch,” your dad snarls, “Anything I did to you? You fucking deserved. You were just the spawn of your evil fucking mother. I did the world a favor by not actually removing you from the planet. You fucking women are nothing but lying, deceitful sluts!!” You feel yourself violently trembling as your father continues.

“So now you’ve gone and got yourself some new boy toys, just luck that whore!” He shifts his attention to Edge. “Has she fucked you yet, huh? Is that how she pays for your “protection”? Or what about you, she fuckin’ you too?” He finishes, pointing at Wine.

You drop your eyes to the ground, fighting tears, but are surprised to hear some kind of deep growling. You realize that sound is coming from Edge, and you can actually feel the magic beginning to tingle in the air.

“Your daughter is a wonderful and respectful woman, no thanks to you,” Wine says calmly, and your father snorts in response.

“Oh I’m sure that’s what she’s made you think. You just wait. Once you get to know her like ** _I_** know her, you wont like her either!!” He growls, pointing a threatening finger at you.

“THAT’S ENOUGH,” Edge growls as he takes a step forward. “YOU HAVE HER PAYCHECK? HAND IT OVER, AND THEN MAKE YOURSELF SCARCE, BEFORE I _REALLY_ GET ANGRY.”

Your father stares at Edge for a moment before he scoffs and holds the envelope in his hands.

“Oh this? Here you go,” he says, before he rips it in two, then again, and again, before he drops the pieces to the ground, grinning smugly at you. You give out a small whimper and close your eyes, shaking your head, as Wine and Edge both growl fiercely. Your father bursts into laughter, and your eyes whip open to look at him.

“Oh, I’m not going anywhere,” he says maliciously. “I already have your phone number, and now that I know you live with monsters? It’ll be THAT much easier to track you down.”

You give out a gasp and try to take another step backwards as your father starts taking slow, deliberate steps toward you, his eyes locked on yours.

“I’ll be seeing you soon, precious,” he says deeply. “You can’t hide from me forever.”

There’s a strange swooshing and crackling sound, and the next thing you know, your father has a sharp, red bone pointed directly at his face. Edge is on the other end, red magic swirling around him, as he smiles dangerously at your father.

“BY ALL MEANS, TRY IT,” He says darkly. “I’D LOVE SOME TARGET PRACTICE.”

“You’ll be in a world of hurt if you keep coming after her,” Wine growls. “Leave, NOW. And don’t ever bother her again.”

Your father glares at the two for a moment before he finally takes a step back from Edge’s sharp bone attack and walks swiftly away. It isn’t until you finally lose sight of him that you let out a shaky breath and feel your knees buckle. Wine catches you in his arms and lowers you to the ground slowly as Edge lets his magic dissipate and kneels on one knee next to you. You can feel yourself hyperventilating, the blood rushing in your ears and your hands coming up to cover your face.

 _He knows how to find me, He’ll track me down, he’ll kill my friends_ your mind is screaming at you. _Then he’ll get to me and make me pay for running from him for so long, oh Stars, what am I going to do!!_

“Y/N!” You jump at the loud voice and feel firm hands pulling yours away from your face. Edge holds your hands firmly in his as Wine rubs a hand up and down your back.

“Breathe, Dear, breathe,” Wine says softly, and he takes a deep breath himself, urging you to do the same. You do, and the three of you sit that way for a few moments until your breathing has finally evened out. You’re trembling terribly as you shake your head.

“I’m s-so sorry you guys, I n-never wanted to get you involved in this,” you stammer out, but Wine just shakes his head as Edge squeezes your hands. You open your mouth to speak more but Edge quickly cuts you off.

“NONSENSE,” He says sternly yet softly. “YOU DESERVE MUCH BETTER THAN THAT POOR EXCUSE OF A HUMAN. YOU WILL HAVE OUR PROTECTION FOR AS LONG AS WE STILL EXIST!”

You smile tearily before Edge scoops you up in his arms, making you gasp softly as you cling to him, Wine picking up your tank and carrying it as the three of you make your way back to the car.

But on the trip back home, you begin to think about how wonderful they have all been and how much they don’t deserve to be in this kind of position. You come to the agonizing decision, your mind racing, that you need to leave.

 _They’ll be safer without me…._ You think to yourself, fighting back the tears in your eyes at the thought of losing the only friends you’d ever felt actually cared about you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s just starting to get dark and the others are all waiting anxiously when the three of you finally get home. You’re quite suddenly smooshed in a hug between Papyrus and Blue as Wine and Edge begin to explain how things went. You sigh tiredly as Blue and Papyrus finally put you down.

“ARE YOU OK?” Blue asks, concern apparent on his face.

“WE WERE SO WORRIED!!” Papyrus says, wringing his hands together.

“I’m alright,” you say automatically, before giving the best smile you can fake. “I’m just tired. Think I might go to bed early.”

“OF COURSE!!” Papyrus says as Blue nods vigorously. “TODAY MUST HAVE BEEN VERY STRESSFUL FOR YOU!”

You shrug a little before you make your way back over to Wine and Edge, who were still talking with Red, Sans, Stretch, and Rus and Black. Cash was sitting on the couch, but you could tell he was still listening. You tap Wine on the shoulder, and he turns to look at you curiously, but chuckles softly as you wrap your arms around him in a hug.

“Thank you…” you say softly, and he hugs you back, brushing a hand on the back of your head.

“Of course, my dear. Anything for you,” he replies, and you pull back with a smile before stepping over to Edge. He stiffens slightly as you wrap your arms around him (only coming up to the bottom of his ribcage).

“Thank you too…” you tell him, and after a moment he grunts and gives your head an awkward pat, making Red and Stretch chuckle before you let him go.

“Night guys,” you say, waving at everyone, avoiding eye contact before you head to your room. You shut the door softly behind you, leaning back against it as you put a hand to your forehead. You don’t want to leave; you don’t want to go anywhere…. but you don’t want them to get hurt because of you.

You spend the rest of the evening pacing your room, waiting until the sounds in the house have died down before you finally dig out your large suitcase and hoist it up on your bed. You move slowly and sadly, fighting tears as you begin to take your clothes out of the closet and fold them into the case.

You startle when you hear a knock on your door, and you shuffle over to crack the door open, only to be faced with Sans.

“Hey kiddo,” he says, smiling warmly at you. “Just wanted to check in on you, bring you something to drink. I know you had a rough day.”

You look at the mug he’s holding, the delicious scent of hot chocolate reaching your nose, making you smile. But you remember the suitcase on your bed, and you don’t want to have to explain, so you lean against the door.

“Aw thank you Sans, I appreciate it,” you say, “But I’m doin’ ok. Just…winding down,”

Sans quirks a brow at you; you were never one to turn down a cup of hot cocoa. You feel yourself begin to sweat under his scrutiny, so you try to shift so he can’t see too much into your room.

“Sure you’re ok?” he asks, and you nod, saying “Yep”, but your voice sounds way too high. Sans nods before he shoves the mug forward. You stammer, taking it in both your hands, but the door creaks open a little further and Sans sucks in a breath when he sees into your room. He looks at you, and you turn your eyes down, avoiding his, as you shuffle backwards into your room. He follows you slowly, looking at the suitcase and the clothes in it, before he sits down on the edge of your bed.

“Goin’ somewhere?” he asks softly, and you sigh as you set the mug down on your nightstand. You sit down next to him and are quiet for a moment, him letting you take your time, before you begin to speak.

“I…have to leave,” you start off slowly. “I can’t…I won’t be the reason you guys get hurt. My father…he’ll be able to find me, and you guys…you mean the world to me, I can’t let anything happen to you. I have to leave.”

You feel tears begin to fall from your eyes, and you look up at Sans, pleading with him to try and understand.

“It’s b-better this way,” you cry, swiping at your wet cheeks. “You guys deserve s-so much better than to be dragged into this-“

You’re cut off when Sans wraps his arms around you and brings you tightly to him. You’re shocked for a moment before your hands grip the back of his jacket and you feel yourself soften against him.

“Listen…. we want you here. You’ve brought so much light and happiness to us…to _me_ …” he says slowly, and you rest your cheek against his shoulder. “We’re all watching out for you. No one is going to get through us, I swear it. We’re all pretty capable at protecting ourselves, y’know…you could say it’s _in our bones_ , in fact!”

You can’t help but laugh, and you feel him chuckling against you before you pull back to look at him. His cheeks are blushing slightly blue, and you give him a smile.  
  
“Thank you, Sans,” you say. “I don’t deserve you…”

He leans forward slowly, before softly pressing a kiss to your forehead

“You got that one wrong, babe…” he says quietly, before pressing another kiss to your cheek. “We don’t deserve you..” he presses another kiss to your other cheek, and you feel your face flushing red as he softly, slowly, presses his teeth to your lips, kissing you softly.

You feel tingling as you let yourself melt into his kiss, before he finally pulls back, his face even more flushed than before. He chuckles deeply before giving your hand a squeeze and standing up.

“So stay, ok?” He says over his shoulder, before smiling at you and shutting your bedroom door.

You grin happily, fingers brushing your lips, before you reach over and take a deep drink of your hot chocolate. Then you begin to put your clothes back, a sense of relief washing over you. You aren’t sure exactly when, but you really had started to think of this place as your home, and you really didn’t want to leave.

In fact, you finally start to feel a bit of hope, that maybe…maybe the days of being terrified of your father chasing you are finally reaching their end.


	9. Well, Well...What Have We Here?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Looks like some more of the Skeleton family's here to visit! These ones seem a little bit different than the rest, but you find that you actually dont mind too much; these ones are a bit more straight forward and honest about things!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look who it is! The wonderful Lust brothers! I'm so glad to finally have them in, I actually like them a lot. They remind me a lot of someone I know.  
> Some very suggestive and flirtatious talk, so be warned!  
> Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, and as always, let me know what you think!!

The days seem to go by quickly and happily, the first days of summer bringing more sun and more time to enjoy the outdoors. It’s one of those nice, warm mornings when there’s a large commotion, and you can hear loud voices echoing through the house. You were just finishing cleaning the upstairs bathroom, so you put your supplies away and began hopping down the stairs when you were greeted with a very panicked looking Red, and Sans who looked like he was sweating buckets. But next to them were two new skeletons you had never seen before.

The first one was wearing a very pretty hooded vest, with purple and turquoise accents. They were short, about the same height as Sans, and when their pretty purple eye lights looked up to see yours, they lit up with a huge smile.

“Well would you look here!” they exclaimed loudly, spreading their arms out in front of them. “You’re even more gorgeous than these boys described, sugar!” You giggled a little, blushing slightly as you made it to the bottom of the stairs. Red wrapped a protective arm around your shoulder, and you looked at him questioningly, but he just glowered at the new skeleton.

“Aw, looks like someone’s jealous!” the other new skeleton said. This one was pretty tall and slender, kind of like Papyrus, but what really caught your eye was what appeared to be…an abdomen?? What looked like a pink abdomen instead of being able to see all the way to their spine! You didn’t want to stare though so you looked up into their pink eyes that were sparkling mischievously. “But I can definitely see why, Darlin’!”

You hear Red scoff as you cover another laugh. You reach your hand out towards the tall one, who smiles happily and takes it in theirs.

“Oh, and such manners, too!” they say, bowing and giving a very exaggerated kiss to the back of your hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Y/N! We’re-“

“COUSINS!!” Red and Sans both shout, causing the new skeletons to look at them with eyebrows raised.

“Y-yep, more cousins! We got a big family,” Sans says nervously, itching the back of his skull. You hum suspiciously, tucking it away in your mind for future use.

“Ha! Cousins, hm?” The purple one says, giving you a wink. “Well sugar, you can call me Plum, and that’s my brother Peach!”

“It’s great to meet you guys!” you say happily, stepping out from under Red’s arm to shake Plum’s hand. Plum takes your hand and gives you a twirl, making you yelp softly before giggling as Peach grabs your other hand and spins you back. You cant help but laugh happily; it kind of reminds you of your sister a little, and the goofy dancing and singing you would do when you were bored. “I didn’t know you were coming to visit!”

“Yeah, we uh….kinda forgot…” Red grumbles to himself, and Sans shuffles nervously.

“Well it’s about that time, you know,” Peach says, winking at his brother, and you look curiously at the two for a moment before you realize you need to switch out the bedding in the guest house.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry! Just let me touch up the guest house real quick, ok?” You say, darting away from the group to dash back up the stairs towards the linen closet. You pull out a handful of fresh sheets and blankets before carefully making your way down the stairs. You set the pile down on the couch and are setting up one of your portable tanks to take with you when you hear more voices.

“OH NO, NOT YOU TWO AGAIN,” a voice drawls out, and you turn with a grin to see Black coming downstairs, his arms crossed in front of him. Cash follows slowly, a smile on his face. “CANT YOU GET A HOTEL OR SOMETHING?”

“Aw, but then we’d miss your handsome face!” Plum exclaims, draping himself over Black’s shoulder. Black lets out a scoff and shoves him off, making him laugh and slide over to Cash. “Your brother is so much nicer to me, Black! I could always stay with him…”

Black looks horrified and you cant help but laugh as he stomps away, grumbling about “inappropriate” and “ridiculous”, making Plum, Cash, and Peach all laugh.

“Wondered if you guys’d be comin’ around soon,” Cash says, giving Plum a nudge. Peach gives him a laugh as Sans wonders over to you. You give him a warm smile.

“Heya kiddo…” he says a little nervously, and you stand straight to give him your full attention. “I’m real sorry, kinda lost track of time. I should’ve warned you they were coming.”

You give his shoulder a small pat. “Hey it’s ok! Are they just here for a visit or is there like a family reunion or holiday coming up?” you ask quietly.

“Um…well, kinda…” he says, and you can see him blushing and fidgeting so you grab his hand and drag him to the other end of the couch before pushing him down and sitting next to him.

“Sans, you know you can talk to me, right?” you try to reassure him. “If it’s personal or embarrassing, please know, I don’t judge, ok? But you don’t have to tell me if you aren’t comfortable.”

He shakes his head, before taking a deep breath.

“Ok, so…the thing with monsters is…” he rubs the back of his skull again before continuing, looking at his feet. “Well…monsters experience what we call a “heat”. From what I’ve learned, some of your animals experience something similar, like a ‘mating cycle’, but ours is a little…different. And ours doesn’t happen as often, either.”

When you realize exactly what he’s talking about, you can feel yourself blush furiously. But you can see how embarrassed Sans is trying to explain it to you, so you stuff down your own feelings and try to be understanding.

“O-oh, ok, yeah! I think I did hear that somewhere!” You say, trying hard to keep your voice calm. “So… why are Plum and Peach here..? Do you guys all your…cycle….together, or…?

Sans laughs nervously, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Well, kinda…see, we’ve all lived together long enough that when one of us goes into heat, the rest of us do too….so, uh…”

“We have an easier time controlling ours, darlin’,” Peach says, startling you both as he leans against the back of the couch. Sans blushes even more and clears his non-existent throat. “So we usually come around to make sure things don’t escalate and they don’t destroy the entire house!”

You giggle a little before putting a hand on Sans’, giving it a small squeeze. “Thank you, for explaining, Sans. I know that was probably the last thing you wanted to do, so I appreciate it.”

Sans gives a shrug and is still blushing furiously, but you can see him smiling as he stands and makes his way towards the kitchen. “Anytime, Kiddo,” he says over his shoulder.

You smile and stand, turning your portable tank on before you start trying to squish the pile of sheets and blankets into your arms.

“Let us help, Suagr,” Plum says, grabbing the pile from you as Peach loops his arm in yours and you head to the back door. Peach pulls it open and lets Plum out first, while you two follow behind.

“Im really sorry, I haven’t heard much about you two…” you question softly, and Peach lets out a laugh.

“That’s alright, the boys tell us we can be a bit hard to get used to…” he says before taking the guest key out of your hands and unlocking the door. You all step inside and you go around to open up the windows, allowing fresh air in while Plum separates the sheets and blankets to put onto the two beds. It’s got two separate bedrooms and a small bathroom with a standup shower, a small kitchen with a fold up dining table, and a tiny living room couch with a TV in the wall.

After you’ve gotten things cleaned and freshened up a bit, you lean back against one of the kitchen counters. You have so many thoughts and questions, but before you can ask any, Plum slides up next to you.

“You have beautiful hair, did you know that?” He says softly, tucking a lock behind your ear and giving your cannula a small, affectionate tug, making you giggle and blush a little.

“So! Give us the juicy details!” Peach chirps happily, flopping down onto the couch. “You, in a whole house full of boys? There’s got to be some nice things going on there!”

You give a nervous laugh, blushing even more as Plum chuckles next to you.

“Oh gosh, no, um… I-I’m more of a roommate, really…” you say, and the two Skeletons share a glance with a mischievous smile. “I mean, at least I think…”

Plum raises an eyebrow curiously, but they really do seem curious, and not judgmental, so you feel yourself relax a little.

“Well….Stretch kissed me once, but he was trying to distract me so his brother could win at a video game. But then Axe did on the cheek…and Sans kissed me one night too…” you say, realizing you’re rambling and blushing at the fact you’ve been kissed more since you moved in than you had your entire life.

“Oh, Sugar! Really?” Plum says, looking at you with a warmth in his eyes. “Have you really never had sex before?”

Your jaw drops in shock and you stutter, while Peach laughs warmly and Plum puts a hand on your shoulder.

“Oh no, no judgement here darlin’,” Peach says, waving his hands at you. “It’s something we can pick up on, because of…where we’re from.”

You chuckle nervously before going over and sitting down next to Peach, while Plum wanders over and sits on your other side. You give a huff before you start talking.

“Yeah, I never have,” you admit quietly. “I mean, it’s not like I never had the chance, it’s just…I never really found anyone I felt…close enough to do that with, you know?”

“Aw, honey…” Peach says, looping an arm around you and giving you a squeeze. “That’s alright! Everyone goes at their own pace.”

“Yeah! And if you ever decide you’d like some pointers, or even some help for your first time…” Plum says, winking at you flirtatiously, making you flush even more. “We’re the Skeletons to call!”

You laugh before nudging him with your shoulder.

“You guys remind me of my sister,” you say honestly, making their eye lights shine bright as they smile. “I’d always go to her for all my “girl talk”, she was…a LOT more experienced than me.”

“She sounds fun!” Plum says, making you and Peach laugh. “I’d love to meet her someday.”

You smile sadly, nodding a little as memories flood into your mind. It’s quiet for a moment before Plum nudges you back softly, and you look up into his questioning eyes.

“She moved,” you say sadly. “Now she’s on the other side of the world. We kind of lost touch after that. I miss her.”

Plum and Peach hum softly as they both give you a soft hug, and you return it gratefully. After a few more moments of quiet, you decide to press your luck with your new skeleton friends.

“Can I ask you a question?” You say as Peach gets up and heads towards the bedroom.

“Only one?” Plum says, waggling his eyebrow bones at you, making you giggle.

“Well whenever I ask about the “family” it seems like everyone gets nervous. And they always try to brush it off as being cousins,” you say, watching for their expressions. Unlike the rest of the skeletons, however, these two don’t look nervous or anxious at all. Peach comes back into the room with some glasses and a bottle of some kind of swirling blue liquid that has you eyeing it with wonder. Plum looks at Peach, who shrugs as he starts pouring the drinks.

“You sure you want to know the truth, Sugar?” Plum asks, before taking the glass from his brother and sipping it, letting out a sigh of appreciation.

You nod eagerly, taking your glass and looking at it, admiring the colors. It smelled almost like blueberries, but with a hint of something chocolatey. It doesn’t really smell like alcohol, so you take a very small sip and your eyes widen when you feel it send a warm, tingling sensation through your body.

“Oh wow this is good!” You say, and Peach grins proudly.

“You like it? It’s special, only get it from one special joint that we happen to have access to,” he exclaims happily, sitting back down with his glass and propping his feet up on the coffee table in front of him. You take another sip before turning back to look at Plum, who sets his drink on the table.

For the next fifteen minutes, you are quiet as Plum and Peach explain to you how, exactly, everyone came to be here. About how Sans and Papyrus were the originals of this world, about how Sans had been trying to fix up Doctor Gaster’s old machine, when something had gone wrong and it had ripped time and space apart, bringing many of the different universe’s versions of Sans and Papyrus into their world. How everyone was technically just a different version of Sans and Papyrus, so it was easier to just tell everyone they were one giant family. The machine had been broken seemingly beyond repair, but Red and Sans still worked hard to try and fix things so that, someday, if the others wanted to go home, they could; but so far, that day was not in the foreseeable future.

By the end of the explanation, you were leaned forward with your head in your hands, trying your hardest to take in the information. It was just… _so much to process._ Other worlds? Other realities? Alternate versions of oneself?? It just sounded so crazy! And yet…the proof was right before your eyes.

“Man…” you mumble to yourself. “I’ve played a lot of video games and read a lot of books that have alternate realties and stuff, but holy crap, I never though that kind of thing was actually real…” You hear one of them chuckle and a hand rub up and down your back. “I feel like I’m caught in the middle of a sci-fi!” This makes them both laugh, and you grin as you drop your hands to look at them.

“So you guys are all from different worlds? What was yours like?” you ask, and the two brothers explain. You blush (A LOT), but it definitely makes you understand them a little better, knowing they came from the universe of what they dubbed “UnderLust”. It also brings up another question you wanted to ask, as Peach lounged on the couch next to you.

“So…if I can ask….what is that?” You ask, gesturing towards Peach’s glowing pink stomach. Peach peaks down, then laughs and grabs your hand before bringing it over and placing it on his stomach. You give a soft gasp as you feel the slight tingle of magic on your hand, and you press your fingers down softly. It really did feel like a stomach! It was soft and warm, but that tingly feeling felt really good, and you giggle as you take your hand away.

“With our magic, we can conjure pretty much anything we want,” Peach explains with a wink. “Some of us just really like the look or feel of it, so we keep it up more often.”

“Yep! We call it our “Ecto Body”,” Plum says, and within the blink of an eye, suddenly his empty middle is filled with a similar one to Peach’s only his is purple! You cant help but laugh giddily as you reach over and touch his, making him shiver slightly as you wiggle your fingers on it. His magic tingles too, but it’s just faintly different.

“Oh man that is so cool!” you exclaim, making them both burst into laughter. “Can the others do this too??”

The two of them exchange a glance, smirks on their faces.

“Technically, yes, but they probably do it in more…. _intimate_ situations…” Peach says, winking at you, and you feel yourself blush.

“Oh. OH! Oooohhhhhh……” you say, before covering your flushed face with a squeak. “Oh my gooooooooooosh, I always kind of wondered about that but I didn’t ever want to ask!!”

Plum and Peach are both doubled over in laughter, and you give them both a slight smack, your face absolutely burning. “Well come on, You guys are skeletons, how was I supposed to know!!” You shout, only making them laugh that much harder. You jump to your feet, trying not to laugh with them.

“Who in their right mind would have guessed MAGICAL GENITALS?!” You yell, right as the door swings open. You freeze and turn towards it, only to find Rus standing there, a look of shock on his face that is quickly replaced with a huge, mischievous smirk.

Plum and Peach appear to have died of laughter on the couch, Plum slouched over into Peach’s lap, purple tears in his eyes as he struggles for breath.

“Well, what’d I miss out on, Kitten?” Rus says, and you feel frozen in embarrassment as you just stare at him. He steps closer, slowly but surely, until he’s standing just inches from you.

“Y’know…” he says softly, before a long, yellow tongue snakes out of his mouth and slowly licks along his upper teeth. You watch it, almost mesmerized, before he brings it back into his mouth and you feel a hand grip your hip. “…that ain’t the only thing magical I could show ya…”

You give out am embarrassed shriek and bolt out of the guest house, the sound of Rus, Plum, and Peach’s laughter following you. You sprint across the yard and burst into the house, ignoring the startled look of Black and Edge as you try to give them a wave while also rushing to your room to hide your blushing red face.

You finally make it to your room and slam the door behind you putting your tank away and throwing yourself onto your bed to scream into your pillow. Today had been full of information and embarrassment, and it wasn’t even noon yet!


	10. Love Is In The Air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As that time for monsters gets nearer, you notice some...behavioral differences in a few of your friends. And you also end up with a surprise first date!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dont worry, more spiciness is coming, I swear ;-)  
> For now, the first date, which will open up Pandora's Box, mweh heheheheh!  
> Anyway, let me know what you think, and I hope you like it!!

The next couple days were…interesting, to say the least! The closer your skeleton friend’s heat came, the more you found yourself almost always surrounded by at least one of them. And quite a few of them had become…. clingy would be one word for it.

Another would be…well, horny.

It was one of those moments, you were humming to yourself as you finished washing some dishes in the sink, when you felt something heavy lean against you from behind. You gave out a sigh, somewhat used to it at this point, as you continued your work. It had become quite the guessing game for you, trying to figure out which one exactly it was that had decided to sneak in for some physical contact. After a quiet moment, you felt arms snake around your middle, and you put down the glass you had been drying.

“Marco,” you say, teasingly, and you feel a rumbling chuckle against your back.

“Polo,” Red’s voice purrs back, his chin coming to rest against your shoulder. You give another sigh as he snuggled closer to you before you start the long process of attempting to wriggle out of his arms.

“Red…” you say, but he ignores you and you giggle a little as his fingers graze against your stomach. “Hey, easy there…down, boy!”

“Oh, I’d happily go down…” he growls into your ear, and you let out an embarrassed squeak, your face flushing red as he starts to pull you away from the counter. “Could show ya a damn good time, doll…”

“Ohhh, spicy!” A sassy voice rings out, and you give a warm smile as a new set of hands wraps around you and helps pull you from Red’s arms. You glance up blushing at Plum, who just gives you a warm wink as Red growls, before he’s led away by Peach. You let out a shaky laugh and put a hand to your forehead.

“You ok there, Sugar?” Plum asks, bumping his hip against yours. “You look a little flustered!”

You cant help but shake your head. “I’m surrounded. I think I might implode from all the blushing at this point!” you exclaim, and Plum shakes with laughter.

“Well if it ever gets too much, you let me know. I can always help you relieve a bit of that built up tension…” Plum says seductively, winking at you, and you smack him with one hand before going back to your dishes.

“I-I’ll keep that in mind!” you stutter out, making him laugh appreciatively. You look at him out of the corner of your eye. “So…are they all going to be like this, or..?”

Plum hums thoughtfully before responding. “Well, not all of them, but most…it’s not something that’s easy to control. Some, like Wine, have gotten pretty good at it, but others, like Red or Rus, tend to go a little wilder.” You nod, blaming your burning face on the hot water from the sink. “Tell you what, sugar, if it gets to be too much, me and Peach’ll take you to a hotel or something, m’kay?”

You give him a grateful smile as you turn the water off and lean back against the counter next to him. He nudges you, able to tell you have something on your mind, but he gives you the time to figure out what you want to say.

“It’s not….” You sigh. “It’s not like I don’t _want_ to… but especially where I’ve never, y’know…with anyone else… I just want to make sure I don’t jump with the first person that expresses interest.” You scratch your face, speaking quietly in case someone is listening. Plum wraps an arm around your shoulder and gives you a squeeze.

“So…are there any that do catch your interest?” he asks softly, and you feel yourself blushing.

“I…ugh, man, all of them!” You admit with a groan, causing Plum to laugh. “It’s hard to explain, it’s like…it’s like I feel a pull towards them, towards every one of them, but I don’t know what it is or why! Ive never…Ive never felt this way before….”

At this, Plum gets a serious look on his face and is quiet for a moment. You watch him, a little worried, before he gives a sigh and pulls you in for a quick hug.

“Let me do some thinkin’, Sugar. There’s…there IS an explanation, but…I’m not sure if I’m the right one to explain,” he says before giving you an air kiss and leaving the room.

“Hey-Wait!” You call out, but he’s already gone, and you grumble to yourself. WHAT could use some explaining?? Is there a reason that you get that little heart flutter whenever any of the boys are close, or when any of them touch you?

 _Agh, it must just be because I’m the only girl in a house full of boys…_ you think to yourself before wandering into the living room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ha! What, can’t handle getting beat by the MASTER?” You yell out in victory as Rus groans, having lost for the second time during a round of Super Smash Bros.

“I dunno, I think you’re just that distracting…” he says, waggling his eyebrows at you, and you just roll your eyes and scoff.

“OH ME TOO, ME TOO!” Blue says bounding in, and you give him a big smile as you toss him another controller. When you watch Stretch walk in behind him though, you immediately jump up from your spot on the couch and claim one of the armchairs, sticking your tongue out at him when he brings his hand up to his chest.

“Ohh, you wound me, hon!” he says in exaggerated hurt, making you giggle and Blue laugh.

“Oh ho no, I’m not falling for THAT again!” you say, your face slightly blushing at the reminder of when he helped his brother win. “No cheaters this time.”

Eventually even Black comes in and joins, picking a spot on the floor in front of you and you all alternate between playing. Sans and Papyrus join, followed by Plum and Peach, then Cash, and it isn’t long before there’s a betting pool to see who it is that can take you down from your winning mountain.

“I dunno guys, I don’t think winning is in your bones,” you joke, and a groan erupts from most of the room, making you giggle.

“Kick his ass, Sugar!” Peach cheers from his place on the floor, giving Black a nudge with his foot, who just sneers and focuses his attention. Much to your chagrin, however, a lot of the boys are actually a lot better than you thought, and after many rounds, it comes down to the last four of you; you, Sans, Blue, and Black.

“Alright, last round!” Stretch announces, a huge grin on his face. “I propose whoever gets the final win gets a prize!”

“OOH, YES, I LIKE THIS IDEA!” Blue says, while Sans just grins.

“WHAT PRIZE?” Black asks, clearly trying to act like he isn’t interested, but you can see by the glint in his eyes that he is.

It’s quiet for a moment as Stretch ponders, stroking his chin, but it ends up being Plum that speaks up first.

“Oh, I know!” He pipes up, a mischievous grin on his face. “How about the first date with Y/N?”

Your mouth drops, and Plum winks at you as you throw a small pillow at him. The others turn to look at you, but much to your surprise, you can see the competitive sparkle shining in their eyes.

“What, the FIRST? And Hey!! Well then what do I get if I win?” you ask, trying to hide your blushing. The guys all look around at each other, before Sans speaks up with a smirk.

“Well, how about we all have to take you somewhere? A place you’ve always wanted to go but never have,” he says. After a moment of pondering, you nod happily.

“Alright, you guys are on! You’re going down!” You respond confidently, before selecting your character and leaning forward. Once Sans, Blue, and Black all have made their choices, you hit the random selection for the stage. You grin when you notice just how focused the others are, and you cant help but feel a little flattered…. _do they actually all WANT a date with me?_ You think to yourself.

You don’t like to toot your own horn but you are pretty damn good at video games, and poor Black was out first; he definitely grumbled before he eventually took his seat and started cheering Blue on. But when Sans and Blue teamed up on you, you realized the odds were against you. You let out a groan of defeat when you were thrown off the stage for the last time.

And then there were two.

It had to be the most intense game you’ve ever witnessed, and Blue and Sans were both extremely similar at how good they were. The room was split pretty evenly down the middle, half cheering for Blue and half for Sans, while you took up a spot on the floor, smooshed between Peach and Plum who kept nudging you and giggling at your blushing. You honestly didn’t know which one you wanted to vote for; you liked them both!

Somehow though, just by a hair, Sans ends up victorious, and he turns around and does a mock bow to the rest of the room, laughing when multiple pillows are thrown his direction.

“NICE GAME, SANS!” Blue says in a good losing spirit, and Sans grins as he shakes his bony hand.

“You too, Blue! I wasn’t sure if I was gonna win there for a bit,” he says. “But then again, I was pretty motivated.”

You giggle a little as he sends a wink your way before you sigh and stand up.

“Welp, looks like you get a date out of me!” You say, putting your hands on your hips. His smile gets even wider. “Just tell me when and where, mister!”

You can tell the others are all listening intently as Sans appears to ponder for a moment, before he shrugs and says “Hm, I’ll think on it and get back to you.” He laughs when you reach out to give him a light smack.

Later, after dinner, Sans catches you in the hallway.

“Hey, you up for our date?” he asks softly, and your eyes widen in surprise.

“Already?” You ask, and he just shrugs with a smile. “Yeah! Um should I get fancied up, or..?”

He gives you a sly smile. “Just some comfy clothes and a blanket. Meet me on the back porch at 11:30.”

Oh he has your curiosity absolutely peaked now, and you happily agree. You spend the rest of the evening nervous but excited, waiting for the minutes to go by.

~~~~~~

You have two oxygen tanks packed in your backpack, and put on your best looking pair of pajamas. Still comfy but not overly ratty because…well, it’s still a date, and you still want to look nice. You had your hair done kind of special and had your favorite blanket folded up in your arms when you made your way to the back door. You smiled warmly as you stepped out and found Sans waiting for you; he was also in what looked like comfy lounge pants and a big, comfy sweater, and had a duffel bag slung over one shoulder.

“Oooh, very mysterious!” you say, bumping into him slightly. “What, are we running off to Vegas to elope?”

In the dark you cant see his face, but you’re pretty sure he is blushing by his flustered chuckle.

“Not this time,” he responds, making you laugh right back. “I have something special I want to show you. You ready?”

You nod and he softly wraps his arm around your shoulder, giving you a squeeze so you know what’s coming. You close your eyes as the familiar whoosh of magic pulls you, and for a moment it feels like you’re twirling through a vacuum of darkness. Just when it starts to feel uncomfortable, the feeling stops, and you feel your feet touch solid ground once again. Sans gives you another squeeze and so you open your eyes, looking around curiously as he takes your hand and softly pulls you forward.

You’re in what looks like a small clearing, but in front of you, you see that you’re actually up on what looks like a cliff face. You can see the trees for miles around, no cabin and no lake in sight, so you must be a ways away from the house. But you gasp slightly, a hand coming up to your mouth, when you see what Sans is pulling you towards; there’s a pile of pillows and blankets surrounded by what look like little candles, and it’s giving off the most romantic little midnight picnic you’ve ever seen.

You giggle as Sans helps you step over the candles (which you can see are actually battery powered, probably a good call) and helps you get comfortable on the blankets.

“Wow Sans, this is…this is amazing,” you say softly as she sits down next to you before wrapping a blanket around you. You blush slightly as he wraps it around his shoulders too, sitting close enough for you two to be touching. “It’s beautiful here.”

“That’s not even the best part,” he says, winking at you, before he points above you. When you look up, your jaw drops in wonder. In the sky, you can actually, for the first time, see the glowing parts of the galaxy, surrounded by stars and swirling colors and light. You have no words as you take in the beauty, eyes wide, not noticing how Sans’ eyes are just as wide with wonder, but his eyes aren’t watching the sky….they’re watching you.

“Short notice, I know, but I wanted to bring you out here to show you something special,” you hear him say, and as he says this, you see a shooting star fly across the sky. You let out an excited chirp and grasp his hand, any embarrassment lost in your excitement.

“Sans! Did you see that?” You ask, and he chuckles as he nods. The next thing you know, there’s another shooting star, and another, and another. You sigh happily, the both of you just content to watch the meteor shower, before laying your head on Sans’ shoulder.

“Sans, this is amazing, thank you so much for bringing me here,” you say softly, and are happy it isn’t too bright so he cant see your blush when he rests his head on top of yours. “It’s beautiful!”

Sans hums softly before responding. “I wanted to show something beautiful to some _one_ beautiful,” he says, almost too softly for you to hear, but you do. He stretches to the side and pulls out two glasses and a bottle of some kind of drink, before pouring you guys each a glass. You take it, sipping it slowly and hum appreciatively at the delicious taste.

“Y’know, I’ve never actually been somewhere I could see the galaxy…” you tell Sans. “There was always too much light around when I was little.”

Sans nods a little. “Yeah, kind of similar here. We never saw the surface until Frisk freed us, and when we finally made it, we wanted to live somewhere we could see the stars all the time.”

You turn to him with a small smile, pondering for a moment before you push forward.

“So…were all the others trapped underground too, like you and Papyrus, in their worlds?”

Sans chokes on his drink, and you thump him on the back a couple of times for good measure before he regains his composure.

“It’s ok, Sans,” you say, chuckling softly. “I know, about the others, about the alternate universes. You can trust me, I wont tell anyone.”

He watches you for a moment before he sighs and reaches out to grab your hand.

“It’s not…It’s not that we don’t trust you,” he says hesitantly. “It’s just…a lot to take in, I know. It’s one thing for it to be a giant skeleton family, but alternate versions of me and Paps? I was…a little worried you’d run away screaming.”

You let out a short laugh before you give his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“It was a little different, sure, to take in at first, but…it actually makes a lot of sense,” you explain, and Sans watches you with a mix of wonder and curiosity. “Some of you seem so alike. Plus, I mean…I read somewhere that skeleton monsters were pretty rare, and then suddenly there being so many of you? Yeah, this definitely makes a lot more sense.”

Sans laughs before wrapping an arm around your shoulder again, taking another drink out of his glass.

“You know what? You took this a lot better than I expected,” he murmured to himself, and you give him a soft bump, smiling at him.

“So…does this mean I did good?” you ask and that makes him laugh even more, although you can feel yourself blushing as he hugs you close to his side.

“Absolutely, babe,” he says. “ _Tibia_ honest, I’ve been wanting to tell you the truth for a long time.” You giggle at his pun before you both watch the remainder of the shower. When the last falling star has passed, you turn to face him just in time for his hand to come up and rest against your cheek. You feel your heart kick up a notch as he slowly dips his face in and presses his teeth softly against your lips. You feel an almost electric humming through your body as you return the kiss, and you can’t help but think that you’re actually glad you lost the game.

~~~~~

Later that evening, when Sans brought you back home and you had cuddled deep into your bed, still smiling and giggling about your amazing date, your phone went off with a text. You pick it up and smile as you read the text from Blue, putting your cool hand up to your flushing red face.

**_Blue: SO, Y/N! I KNOW THAT, TECHNICALLY, I DID LOSE, BUT!! I WAS WONDERING!! IF, YOU WOULD POSSIBLY BE WILLING TO GO ON A DATE WITH ME SOMETIME AS WELL? I DID GET SECOND PLACE AFTER ALL_ ** **_😉_ **

Your fingers dance over the keyboard and you send your reply before burrowing into your blankets, giggling and fidgeting excitedly.

**_XXX: I would LOVE to, Blue, that sounds wonderful!!_ **

It had been quite a while since you’d ever felt like this, and quite honestly, it felt good….it made you feel loved and wanted, which you hadn't felt in a long, long time.


	11. It's Getting Hot In Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh, it looks like it's finally that time, if you know what I mean! But some unforeseen factors make the Skeleton's go a little more crazy than usual...will you get out unscathed? ;-)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh, it looks like the heat has finally hit!!  
> LOTS of suggestive stuff in this one, so be warned! It can get a tad steamy ;-) Mweh heh heh!!
> 
> Let me know what you think, and as always, I hope you enjoy!!

When you woke the next morning, you could feel some uncomfortable cramping in your lower back. You sighed but knew it wouldn’t stop you from moving about your day. It was still pretty early, so you meandered your way into the bathroom, took some pain medication, and hopped in the shower. When you were done, you made sure to mostly dry your hair and put on a nice set of loose pants and a loose shirt before making your way into the hallway so you could get your usual chores started.

Somewhere in the house you could hear loud voices, and something in the air just seemed a little….off. Almost tense, in a way, like there was an electric current in the air. But before you made it too much further down the hallway, a shape suddenly popped into existence before you, causing you to startle and stumble backwards. Hands wrapped around your arms, stopping you from falling, and you looked up gratefully into Rus’ eyes.

“Jeez Rus, don’t-“ you start to say, but he pushes a skeletal finger against your lip to shush you, and you look at him questioningly. You starts leaning forward, and you suck in a breath as he leans towards you, pushing you back against the wall. He pushes his head against the side of yours, his face burrowing slightly in your hair as he takes a deep inhale.

“Shit, you smell good…” you hear him whisper, and you blush furiously as he starts nuzzling against you.

“U-um, t-thank you??” you stutter, but when you try to move, his hands keep you in place. “R-rus?” But before you’re able to say anything else, you let out a sharp gasp as you feel something hot and wet slide up your neck, making you shiver and causing a warmth to shoot through your body.

“C’mon, Kitten, just a lil’ taste..?” he purrs into your ear, before giving your earlobe a small bite. You let out a squeak and he chuckles deeply.

The next thing you know, he’s forcibly pulled off of you by someone who is growling angrily, and you feel another hand close on your arm, pulling you towards him.

“The fuck you doin’ to her?” Red snarls, and Rus growls right back, turning angry eyes on him. “She aint yours, ya dipshit!”

“Oh like she’s yours?” Rus’ says, standing up to his true height, towering over Red. You look between the two of them, eyes wide and a little bit nervous as you feel the hungry energy humming in the air.

“M’Sure she’d be happier with me anyway, wouldn’t you, Dollface?” Red says, turning towards you with a wink, licking his teeth seductively. You flush red again, and he chuckles deeply as his hand trails down your side, tickling at your waist, before he firmly grasps your rear, causing you to gasp, and causing your heart to pick up and your body to shiver slightly.

It’s the loud snarl that comes from Rus that finally breaks you out of your stupor, and you pull yourself away from Red before darting down the hallway and into the living room, the two of them hot on your heels. You see Papyrus and Blue standing between the couches so you bolt towards them and duck behind Blue, who turns to face Red and Rus with a serious frown.

“O-ok, guys, I um, I don’t think you’re thinking straight…” you say to them as they watch you with predatory eyes.

“YEAH! IF YOU WERE, YOU’D KNOW YOU DON’T STAND A CHANCE AT BEING HER MATE!” Blue says, hands on his hips.

“Yeah, Exac-Wait, what??” You sputter, but suddenly Blue has his arms around your waist and is pulling you close. You let out an embarrassed yelp as he nuzzles his teeth against your cheek.

“NONE OF THEM HAVE THE SAME LEVEL OF FRIENDSHIP TO GO WITH, AFTER ALL!” Blue tells you softly, his voice deeper and huskier than you have ever heard it. You try not to let it go to your head, already on fire from Rus and Red, but your mind is getting fuzzier and fuzzier.

“RESPECTIVELY, BLUE, I’D HAVE TO DISAGREE!” Papyrus chimes in, taking a step forward towards you two, making Blue give him a side eye glare. “I’VE BEEN JUST AS CLOSE TO HER AS YOU, FROM THE BEGINNING!”

As the four of them begin to argue, you feel another sharp hand grab your arm and pull you from Blue’s grasp, who tries to hold on but is ultimately forced to let go when a huge snarl fills the room. You look up, slightly terrified (and not at all turned on, no of course not!) into the burning eyes of Edge.

 _Oh boy…_ you think to yourself, and you try to dig your hand into your pocket for your phone. You just barely get it out and have the screen open to Plum when Edge pulls it out of your grasp.

“H-hey!” you yell, trying to reach up for it, but he simply tucks it into his pocket and spins you against him, so your back is against his chest. You feel like you’re on fire as he pushes against you and uses his hand to pull the hair away from your neck.

“IF ANYONE IS GOING TO HAVE HER….” He whispers warningly to the others, before he dips down and softly nibbles at the crease in your neck, making you gasp and bite your lip. “….IT’S GOING TO BE ME.”

There’s a shift in the air and you feel another pull, making you stagger out of Edge’s arms, and suddenly Sans is there. He’s got ahold of one of your arms, while Edge is still holding on to your other, and they’re both glaring daggers at each other, growls rumbling in their chests.

“Let…Go!!” Sans snarls, but Edge just smirks, and you start to panic a little as you feel the gathering of magic and tension. It sounds like there’s growling all around, and you have no idea what to do!! You see Stretch and Cash enter the room, already bickering about something, when Black comes in and immediately gets angry.

“WOULD YOU TWO BUFFOONS GET OFF OF HER, CLEARLY THE MALEVOLENT SANS DESERVES HER MORE THAN ANY OF YOU CRETINS!” He yells, before getting cussed out by more people than you can count (although you think you hear at least Red and Stretch’s voices in there somewhere).

You hear the sound of a door clicking and footsteps, and you look up to see Wine peering over the railing of the top floor, trying to see what the commotion is. When he makes eye contact with you, his eyes widen, and you give him a worried and pleading look, silently praying that he isn’t going to turn into a raging hormonal skeleton just like the rest of your housemates.

He disappears for a moment and suddenly reappears right next to you. In movements that are almost too fast for you to keep track of with your eyes, he’s grabbed your arm, nudged Sans away from you, and forcibly pushed Edge out of the way. You hear the sounds of yelling and snarling before you feel the ground beneath you lurch and spin, and you taste metallic on your tongue from being pulled into a shortcut. You cling to Wine’s arm and he wraps it around your shoulders before suddenly the spinning stops. You lurch a little but he catches you softly, before he quickly digs in his pocket, taps his phone a few times, and puts it to his ear. After a moment, you hear a muffled voice answer.

“It’s time,” he says simply, his hands still on you. You take a moment to look over his face and are slightly surprised to see what appears to be small beads of sweat on his forehead. He’s normally so calm and collected, so it’s intriguing to you to see him look just a little bit more…disheveled than his usual self. “No, it’s because of her….Yes. You can smell her all the way across the house.”

More talking and he finally lets go of your arm before dragging a hand down his face.

“No, it wont take long until they smell her up here, we need to act, fast,” he says, his voice a little bit more strained. You look around and realize that you’ve never been in here before; it appears to be Wine’s room in the attic. Trying not to be overly obvious, you glance around curiously, taking in his room. It’s fairly bare, a well made bed in the middle up against one wall, a large desk on one side. There’s also a nice looking couch situated by the window, and multiple bookshelves filled with all kinds of books surrounding the walls. He also appears to have a small balcony outside, a little door allowing him access to it. There’s a couple of potted plants, a few pictures hung up on a bulletin board, and a fancy looking computer situated on the corner of his desk.

“Ok. Try to be quick,” he says before he closes the phone and puts it down on his desk. You watch his shoulders go up and down as he takes a deep breath.

“Wine..?” you ask softly, but he doesn’t turn around. “Um… thank you, for…you know…”

He chuckles softly, and you feel a little more relaxed.

“Um…I didn’t uh, I didn’t expect your guys’ heat to be quite this…intense,” you say embarrassingly, blushing and rubbing the back of your neck. “I thought for sure they were going to eat me alive down there.”

He laughs deeply, before turning to face you. Your heart skips a beat as you take in the look in his eyes; an intense burning, a hunger, that makes your mouth click shut and your entire body flush warm.

“Normally…it isn’t quite this bad..” he starts to say softly, but he’s slowly taking steps toward you. “But it appears that you have also hit your…monthly cycle…”

You look at him bewildered as you take steps back with every step he takes forward. You try to think about what the date is, but your confusion only grows because…well, you don’t have a uterus anymore! It was taken out during one of your many surgeries.

“I um…I-I don’t…” you stammer, but you let out a little squeak when your back hits the wall. Wine doesn’t stop his approach, however, and when he’s within reach of you, he reaches one arm out and places it right next to your head, leaning against the wall close to you.

“You’re ovulating, my dear…” he explains, his voice low and husky as his eyes pour over your face, and you fight the urge to cover your face in embarrassment. _Oh yeah…I still have my ovaries though…_ you realize stupidly. “And any monster can smell you from a mile away. And for those in heat, well….you smell absolutely…delectable.

 _OhmyStarsohmyStarsohmyStars_ your brains screams at you, going into overdrive as he leans towards you, dipping his face down until you can feel his breath on yours. You cant help but part your lips a little, taking in his wonderful scent (almost like a deep earthy smell, like a nice bookstore, but also with some kind of sharp cologne).

He leans forward even more, a slight red dusting his cheeks, and you can feel him hovering over your lips.

“It’s no wonder they couldn’t keep their hands off of you…” he whispers, before he catches your lips in a kiss.

It’s like none you’ve had before, and you feel yourself melting into it from the start. He starts of soft and slow, but as he carefully pushes you up against the wall, the kiss deepens, and you can feel something warm and wet softly dance across your lips. You give a soft gasp, and his tongue softly dips in, deftly wrapping around your own tongue, and you let out a soft moan as one of his hands winds it’s way into your hair.

You feel one of his legs step in between yours as he pushes against you more firmly, and the kiss begins to turn more hungry, filled with a desperate passion. Your mind cant think straight, filled with the smell and taste of him, and you cant help but want more as your hands move to grip his back, pushing your body right back against him.

But he suddenly pulls back, the both of you breathing heavily, causing you to give a small, disappointed noise that makes him chuckle.

“Oh, my dear, don’t worry,” he says, his voice deep and growling. He brings his hand up and caresses your cheek, and you can see the burning need in his eyes, but also the restraint, his face tight with how hard he’s fighting his own body. “I wont take you like this, not while caught up in the high of a heat, no.”

He leans in and gives your cheek a kiss, and you flush even more, pressing into his hand.

“When I finally take you, it will be when you’re ready, when you truly want it,” You shiver at his words as he leans in, brushing your hair out the way with his other hand, and whispers in your ear. “It will be when I’m of sound mind; to show you, in every way possible, just how wonderful you are…how beautiful your soul is…how gorgeous your body is…I want to give you a night of true pleasure. One you wont ever forget, my darling.”

He gives your neck a soft kiss before pulling away with a seductive smile, and the only thing stopping you from begging for more right then and there, is Plum shortcutting into the room.

“Heya Sugar,” he says, giving you a wink as he takes in your flushed face and heaving chest. Wine chuckles as he finally steps away. He goes to his desk and pulls out what looks like a wallet before handing it to Plum. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you someplace a little more calm. Peach’s already got some of your things teleported over, your oxygen too, m’kay?”

You nod happily and Plum comes over to put an arm around your shoulder. You give Wine a warm, slightly shy smile.

“Thank you,” you say, and he gives his head a slight bow to you.

“Anything for you, my dear,” he says, and you giggle. He looks at Plum, giving him a more serious look. “Watch out for her?”

“Always, Sugar Daddy,” Plum sings, before you feel that familiar tug of magic and the world is spinning once more.

When you finally feel things right themselves, you look around and gape at the huge, extravagant hotel room you find yourself in. It’s got a humongous bed (in a heart shape, you groan to yourself), it’s own kitchen and living area, and a huge spa and hot tub in the bathroom. There also appears to be a hockey table AND a pool table, and you cant help but wonder just how much a room like this _costs_.

_It cant be cheap…_ you worry to yourself.

“Finally!” Peach cries, jumping up from the bed where he was placing multiple large suitcases and rushing over to you two. “I was startin’ to wonder if they’d mauled you!” You giggle, face burning, when Plum nudges you with his elbow, winking.

“Yeah, I uh…got out _mostly_ unscathed,” you manage to get out between your giggling.

“Mostly??” Peach gasps, fanning himself with one hand. “Oh darlin’, you gotta tell us ALL about it, come sit down!”

“I’ll get you somethin’ to eat, kay, Sugar? You’ve had a pretty intense day so far,” Plum jokes at you, giving your hair a soft flip with his finger as Peach drags you over to the couches. You plop down while Peach helps you stretch out your oxygen, and you take a few deep breaths, trying to un-fluster your brain from all that’s happened, and how riled up today actually got you.

Plum comes in with a tray of miscellaneous meats, cheeses, and fruits, and a bottle of some kind of fruity drink, and you all laugh and gush over the reactions of the guys. After lots of giggling over everyone, you have your head in Plum’s lap and your feet in Peach’s. Plum is absently running his fingers through your hair while Peach just happily hums, drinking from his glass.

“Can I ask you guys something?” you say, somewhat shyly, and Plum lets out a curious sound. “Does your first um… your first “time”…really hurt like they say..?”

“Hmmm….” Peach says thoughtfully, swirling his drink for a moment as he thinks. “Well….it _can_ , sometimes, depending on who you’re with, or how the first time goes.”

“If you’re with someone who’s willing to be patient, it’s usually a lot easier,” Plum pipes in, and you nod slowly in response, your face red again. You cant help but think back on what Wine said, and it’s almost like your two friends can read your mind because they both look at you with mischievous grins.

“Can’t get more patient than Wine, y’know,” Plum says, winking at you, and you sit up.

“Oh my Stars, guuuuyyysss,” you say, hiding your face in your hands.

“Oh definitely, and he would absolutely know how to show you a good time, with it being your first,” Peach tells you, giggling. You let out an embarrassed shriek, causing the two of them to bust up laughing as you grumble into your hands.

“NEW TOPIC!” You yell into your hands, causing Peach to almost choke on his drink because he’s laughing so hard.

“So, how long will we have to hide here?” you ask, peaking through your hands.

“Oh it should clear up within the next four to six days,” Plum responds. “They’ll text us once they’ve calmed down so we know it’s safe to come back.”

“Man, four to six days?” you say thoughtfully. Then a new idea comes to you!

“Do um…do Axe and Crooks go through this at the same time too..?” you inquire, and Peach and Plum both shake their heads.

“They’re…a little different, in that aspect…” Peach explains. “Obviously because they don’t live at the main house, their timing is different, but because their magic isn’t…quite as strong or stable, their heats are definitely not as strong as the others. So even during that time, they’re pretty docile to be around.”

You get a smile on your face, patting your pocket, only to frown, and then groan when you realize…. _Edge took your phone._

“What’s wrong, darlin’?” Peach asks, leaning forward.

“Well since we’re stuck here, I thought maybe we could invite Axe and Crooks, see if they wouldn’t want to hang with us, help pass the time,” you said excitedly, but then you sigh. “But Edge took my phone back at the house, so….”

Plum laughs and pulls his own phone out of his pocket. “Oh you should’ve just said, Sugar!” he says jovially, before tapping a message out on his phone. After a few moments it buzzes in response, and after he checks it, he smiles before booping your nose affectionately with a skeletal finger. “They’re up for it! They’ll stop on by later tonight!”

“Yay!!” You say happily, clapping your hands together, making the two brothers giggle at your adorable antics. You smile happily, settling in between them, already looking forward to some quality time with some of the skeleton friends you don’t get to see as much.


	12. Yay Bonding Time!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and the Horror brothers have some quality bonding time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter this time (pneumonia freaking suuuuuucks), but I hope you enjoy!

It’s not too much later when Plum shortcuts away, only to shortcut right back with Axe and Crooks in tow.

“Hey guys!!” you yell happily, rushing over to hug Crooks, who returns it happily, picking you up and swinging you in a circle, making you giggle.

“HELLO Y/N! IT IS WONDERFUL TO SEE YOU AGAIN!” he says warmly before putting you down. You turn to Axe hesitantly before opening your arms in an invitation; you could tell he wasn’t much for physical affection unless he was comfortable. But to your surprise, he smiles and walks right over, smothering you in a giant bear hug that you return with a soft laugh.

“Heya Muffin,” he says, and you laugh and scoff at the nickname. “Heard the boneheads got a bit too touchy with ya. Need me to rough anyone up?”

You blush heavily while Peach and Plum laugh, and Crooks settles a frown at his brother.

“Ha! Uh no, that’s ok. Thank you though,” you get out, embarrassed. “I know they’re a little bit…out of control at the moment, it’s not their fault.”

Axe snorts slightly before plopping himself on the couch. Peach stands up and steps over to you.

“So Darlin’, usually Plum and I go over and make sure the boys don’t destroy TOO much of the house. You gonna be alright here?” he asks, rubbing a finger down your arm.

“Oh yeah, of course!” you say. “Hey, um, if you happen to get a chance, could you maybe try and get my phone back..? Edge had it last…”

Plum laughs heartily, wrapping an arm around his brother.

“Oh dear! Well, we’ll try Sugar, but uh…you might not want to see what’s on it once you get it back,” he says, giving you a wink before the two disappear, making you groan and flush in embarrassment. Axe chuckles at you, and Crooks gives your shoulder a reassuring pat.

“I hope I didn’t interrupt anything, by making you come here,” you say, taking a seat on the couch with Axe.

“NONSENSE, FRIEND, WE WERE MORE THAN HAPPY TO RUSH OVER TO KEEP YOU COMPANY!” Crooks says, puffing his chest out proudly. You cant help but smile at him and how enthusiastic he is… he really is just like Papyrus.

The three of you end up passing the time just hanging around like friends; watching random movies or tv shows, talking, playing pool and air hockey. You’re pretty good at pool, but when it came to air hockey, Crooks had way better reflexes than you and kicked your butt five ways from Sunday. Axe chose to sit this one out (“Not quite as fast as he once was”, Crooks whispers to you knowingly), and after your sixth loss in a row, you threw up your hands with a groan.

“Ahh, I give up! You, my good friend, are the master of air hockey!” you finally say, making Crooks beam and blush just slightly. “Your reflexes are unparalleled!”

“NYEH HEH HEH, THANK YOU, Y/N!” he crows happily, crushing you up into another hug. As he sets you down and the two of you go over to join Axe again, a thought pops into your head and you pick at your fingernails a little, trying to determine the best way to ask. You’re startled from your thoughts when Axe nudges you with his elbow, looking at you with a quirked eyebrow.

“Whatsa matter, cupcake? Skeleton got your tongue?” he jokes, and you laugh a little nervously as his red eyelight stays on you.

“Um…I uh…I was kind of wondering…” you stutter, before taking a deep breath and pushing forward. “D-do you guys like your nicknames?”

There’s a stunned silence as Axe and Crooks stare at you, and you close your eyes, thinking _argh I’m such an idiot, why would I ASK THAT._ But when you hear a small intake of breath, you open them again to see that Crooks is looking away from you and wringing his hands a little.

“W-WELL….IN ALL HONESTY, NO…NOT REALLY….” He says quietly, and your heart breaks just a little bit because you’ve been using that nickname the entire time. “B-BUT! THE OTHERS PICKED THEM OUT, AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULDN’T WANT TO HURT ANYONE’S FEELINGS!”

Axe pats his brother sympathetically. “Yeah, the other guys just kinda chose the nicknames. Most of em don’t care for us too much, so…”

You sat for a minute in silence before putting a big smile on your face. “Well, would you guys like some new ones? I can help you choose, if you want!”

Again, the two brothers looked at you with shocked faces and wide eyes, but this time you felt a lot better about it. If they didn’t like the nicknames, you were going to make damn sure they got better ones, and make EVEN MORE DAMN SURE that your fellow housemates started using those instead. These guys deserved to be cared for and happy too, dangit!!

Crooks looks almost in tears as he smiles at you, and Axe just chuckles.

“OH HUMAN FRIEND, OF COURSE!! A NEW NICKNAME FROM MY BEST HUMAN FRIEND WOULD MEAN THE WORLD TO ME!” He says, sounding just slightly choked up. You giggle before looking at him intently, tapping a finger against your cheek while you think. When the idea hits you, you grin happily and point at him.

“Sweets! Because you’re just the sweetest, like sugar!” you say, and you’re instantly brought into another hug, dangling off the floor.

“OH I LOVE IT, THANK YOU!!” he crows, and you laugh when he puts you down and does a little happy dance. “SWEETS, YES! I LIKE THIS ONE MUCH BETTER!!”

Axe is smiling fondly at his brother. “Yeah, it’s perfect, bro. Fits ya!” he says, giving you a smile and a pat on the arm. “Alright Cheesecake, what about me?”

You sit down again, staring at him and thinking. It takes you a little longer to think of one for him, and his grin widens more and more as the times ticks by. But when the idea hits you, you cant help but giggle, making him raise an eyebrow bone.

“Saint!” you say, and he looks at you quizzically, like you’ve lost your mind. “Cuz…you’re hole-y…”

It’s quiet for just a beat, before he bursts into laughter. You’ve never heard him belly laugh like this before, and it’s almost infectious as he slaps his leg, small blue tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

“S’a pun! It’s perfect!” he says before he wraps an arm around your shoulders and brings you in for a hug. You let out a small squeak, before giggling happily that he likes your choice and wasn’t offended by it. “Yeah, I love it! Thanks, lamb chop,”

“I KNOW! A CELEBRATORY DINNER IS IN ORDER!” Sweets burst out, making you and Saint jump. “I WILL MAKE US ALL A WONDERFULLY DELICIOUS MEAL IN HONOR OF OUR NEWFOUND NICKNAMES!”

He sprints off to the kitchen and you and Saint chuckle as it fills with lots of banging and clanging. It’s quiet for a bit as you and Saint watch some goofy show, but your curiosity once again gets the better of you. He nudges you again when he notices your nervous tell, picking at your nails, and he gives you a knowing smile.

“Um…can I ask you something..?” you say a little quietly. When he nods at you, his one eye fixed on you, you look at your feet. “And uh, if it’s out of line, you don’t have to answer….um….w-what was your universe like..?”

He stiffens and your eyes snap up, immediately regretting your question.

“I-Im sorry, I shouldn’t have asked, don’t answer, i-it’s none of my bus-“ but his finger comes up and presses against your lips, cutting you off. He still looks tense and slightly uncomfortable, but after a moment he takes a deep breath.

“Ours….was a lot like Sans and Papyrus,” he says, talking quietly as well. You peak towards the kitchen, making sure Papyrus is still cooking. “But in theirs, Frisk freed em. In ours….they left.”

“They…left?” you ask, confused.

“Yep. Just walked on out. But we couldn’t, cuz the barrier,” he explains. His fists shake slightly, and you slowly reach out and grab one, wrapping your small fingers around his huge ones. He grips them tightly, as if using you for a lifeline as he talks.

“Eventually, we…started to run out of everything. The core was running out of energy, water was low, and food became….scarce,” his eyes took on a haunted, far away look. “It was….decided…that any humans to fall from then on wouldn’t be harvested for their souls….” He shuddered violently. “But…for food.”

Your heart dropped and a chill went through you. _Oh…oh no…_ you think to yourself, but instead of feeling sick or disgusted, all you really felt was…..sad.

“We had no choice, monsters were dying…Paps woulda died…” he continued to ramble, still shaking. “We did what we had to…”

Before you know it, you’re leaning forward and wrapping your arms around him, squeezing him as tight as you can. He’s frozen still for a moment, but slowly he wraps his arms around you in return. He takes a shuddering breath before he rests his cheekbone on the top of your head and stroking your hair softly.

“I’m so sorry…” you say, your voice cracking slightly. “I’m so, so sorry….”

You hear food sizzling from the kitchen, but the two of you just sit there, wrapped up in each other’s arms. After a bit of this he finally speaks up.

“Aren’t you scared..? Disgusted..?” he asks, and you pull away just far enough to look him in the eye. You bring a hand up slowly, him flinching just slightly, before you rub your palm against the side of his head.

“No…” you say softly, giving him a sad smile. “Not at all… You did what you had to do to survive. I would never fault you for that.”

Saint just looks at you with a wide eye, as if he cant understand or comprehend why you wouldn’t feel scared. You give a small sigh before you pull away from him and turn so your back is to you. You shake slightly before you reach back and slowly, gingerly, pull your loose shirt down until your shoulders and the top of your back are showing. You hear his breath hitch and you shut your eyes tight, knowing the sight that greets him.

“I…I’ve also had to do some things….things I’m not proud of…just to survive…” you say, voice quivering quietly. “I would never judge anyone else that’s had to do the same.”

You flinch just slightly as you feel a skeletal hand come up and lightly graze across one of the scars. After a moment you pull your shirt back up and turn back towards him, but you can’t quite meet his eye. When a hand comes up underneath your chin and softly forces your face up, you finally meet his gaze, but instead of finding pity….

He’s actually smiling softly.

“You’re a survivor…” he says, and you roll your eyes, only for him to tug at your chin slightly. “Ya are. Don’t let anyone say different. And to go through all that and to still have kindness in ya, for someone like me…”

You give him a watery smile and he leans in to press a soft kiss to your temple, making your face flush red. He pulls back just slightly, but you can feel his warm breath on your face, almost feel the warmth of his face close to yours….he just starts to lean forward when a loud voice causes you both to jump.

“DINNER IS READY!” Sweets calls happily from the kitchen, and you stand abruptly, blushing furiously as you smooth your hands down your shirt.

“Thank you Sweets!” you say, giving Saint a soft pat on the arm as you head into the little kitchen. It smells…heavenly, to your surprise; you were kind of expecting him to cook like the others. You help him bring his giant bowl of spaghetti and dishes to the small dining table, and then help him dish out plates as he goes over how phenomenal his cooking is. After your first bite you’d have to actually agree!

“Wow this is…amazing, Sweets!” you tell him, and his whole face lights up again as he gives a happy little “Nyeh heh!”

“Yeah, s’delicious, bro,” Saint says, already mowing down on his plate. “Even better than the last time!”

The three of you enjoy your dinner, making lots of small talk and jokes. It honestly feels so…homey, just being able to spend time with these two. You’d actually really missed them.

 _You know what? I’m going to have them come over more!_ You pledge to yourself, watching them pick on each other warmly.

Once dinner is over, the three of you and up piling up all the pillows and blankets onto the couch just to hang out and watch shows. At some point you must’ve fallen asleep because you wake up groggily in the dark, somehow laying on top of Saint’s chest on the floor, while Sweets has a long arm wrapped on top of you while he sleeps on the couch. You see a red eye blink blearily at you in the dark, and you feel a deep rumbling in Saint’s chest (is he purring??) before his skeletal fingers weave through your hair, rubbing your head softly. You let out a content and happy sound as you lay your head back on him, and he responds with a content and happy rumble, before you drift back off into sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	13. Home Sweet Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heat finally passes and you can finally go home!! Some things start popping up to make you worry, but that's pushed out of your mind when two new guests show up!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really wanted to write, so here's another chapter! Let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy!

The rest of your stay at the hotel just kind of blurrs by. Someone was always with you to keep you company, whether it was one of the Lust brothers, or Sweets and/or Saint. There was a pool, but your anxiety reared up anytime you actually thought about going down there, so you decided to just stay and enjoy the hot tub instead. You had to admit though, you were getting a little homesick, and you looked forward to when you could return. But to keep you busy, plenty of pool and air hockey wars, and at one point someone had a pack of cards to play with too.

It was during a game of Bullshit with you, Saint, Sweets, and Plum when Peach appeared in the room with their arm around Stretch.

“Guess what tiiiiime it is!” Peach sung into the room.

“BULLSHIT!” you shouted, pointing at Plum.

“Pretty sure it aint bullshit time, hon,” Stretch said, chuckling softly as you let out a distressed groan, having failed the call and having to take all the cards. Plum just smiled at you with that smug grin of his, the bastard. “But it IS time to go home.”

You smiled happily at him and Peach. “Everyone….back to normal..?” you tried to ask subtly, blushing a little. Stretch coughed, blushing as well and scratching the back of his skull.

“Uh yep! Everyone’s uh…back to their usual selves,” he told you as he walked around the table to stand next to you. He nodded at the others as Saint chuckled a little. “Axe, Crooks, good to see you.”

You perked up and leaned back to look at him. “Oh! Actually, we decided on some better nicknames for them!” You tell him, and he raises an eyebrow at you. “Say hello to Sweets-“ you pointed- “and Saint!”

“Cuz I’m holey,” Saint says warmly, putting down a card. Stretch is quiet for a moment before he laughs heartily.

“Welp, I definitely like those ones better,” he says. Peach and Plum make small talk while Stretch talks with Saint and Sweets as the game goes around the table. But when it’s Plum’s turn and he puts down his card, you feel a soft tap against your back. You glance at Stretch, who is facing Sweets, but you feel his eyes shift to you for just an instant, and he winks. You grin before calling “BULLSHIT!!” and Plum groans, having to take up the cards.

The rest of the game is spent with your own personal lie detector at your shoulder, and you end up winning by the end (even though you were losing!).

“I love playing Bullshit,” you say happily as you help put the cards away. “But I have to admit, I’m definitely ready to go home.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Stretch says as he leans his arms up over his head.

“Yep, he’ll take you and Peach back to the house, while I take Saint and Sweets home,” Plum says, winking at you. “Don’t worry, we’ll come back for your stuff.”

You sigh happily before going and giving Sweets a huge hug. “Thank you so much for coming and keeping me company! I’d love to have you over at the house sometime!”

Sweets returns the hug with vigor as he responds, “OF COURSE, Y/N! IT WAS OUR PLEASURE! AND I WOULD LOVE THE CHANCE TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH MY BEST HUMAN FRIEND!”

You laugh as he lets you go before you go to give Saint a hug. He smiles down at you as he wraps you up, fingers dancing at some of your ticklish points, making you giggle.

“You call or text us anytime you need somethin’, alright?” he says to you quietly, and you nod, smiling and patting his chest. His hug lasts a little longer before he finally lets you go.

“Onward home?” you say to Stretch, and he grins as he steps next to Peach.

“Onward home,” he responds, and you make a happy little “yay” sound. You’re almost to his outstretched hand when his eyes flicker to something behind you, tensing just slightly.

“Hey Y/N,” you hear Saint speak.

“Yeah?” You say, but just as you’re turning, you feel an arm grab yours softly and spin you towards him, his other arm going to the curve of your lower back. Before you can think of what to say, your mouth is muffled by his pressing against yours.

It’s soft and warm, if a little hesitant, and you feel his tongue lightly tease your lower lip. Just as you start to get a little lightheaded, he lets you go with a grin and a wink. You don’t have time to even respond before Stretch wraps an arm around you and tugs you to him, and you feel that familiar spinning as you fall through the void. You were already dizzy before going through it, so when the spinning finally stops, you stumble (will you ever get used to shortcutting??). Stretch steadies you so you don’t fall, and you have just enough time to take in the wonderful sight of the living room before you’re almost tackled by a blur of blue and red.

“Y/N, YOU’RE BACK!” Blue cries, his arms wrapped around you. “I’M SO SO SORRY, I DIDN’T MEAN TO ACT THE WAY I DID!”

“WE MISSED YOU!” Papyrus cries, his arms wrapped around you from a different angle. “AND I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO APOLOGIZE!”

You laugh heartily as you try and free one arm to pat Blue on the head, and the other to run it down Papyrus’ arm.

“Hey, it’s ok! Guys, really, it’s fine! I’m not mad or upset at all. I was warned, and nothing bad happened, so let’s just…move forward? Deal?” you tell them, giving them a squeeze (as best as you can being smooshed in between them.)

“DEAL!!” They both say excitedly before letting you go. You see Cash and Red sitting on the couch, Sans leaning against the back of it, and Rus leaning against one wall. Wine comes walking in from the den, holding his favorite drink (surprise, it’s wine!) and gives you a soft smile and wink as he stops next to Rus. No Black or Edge in sight, however. _They must still be embarrassed…_ you think to yourself. But the worry doesn’t last long because you’re just so happy to finally be home!

“Glad you’re back, kiddo,” Sans says, smiling at you.

“Yeah, some of us missed ya pretty face,” Red says, winking at you, making you giggle softly. Stretch has Blue trapped, leaning against him with his elbow on his head, but it’s when you turn to tell Peach thank you that you notice the evil grin on his face.

“Peach….” You say warningly, but he just turns to face the room.

“Well of course, we couldn’t leave her here, now could we?” He says, that mischievous look in his eye.

“Peach, I swear…” you say, stalking over to him.

He’s completely unfazed. “After all, with you guys being so wound up….”

“PEACH IF YOU FINISH THAT SENTENCE I SWEAR I WILL DUST YOU MYSELF-“

“We couldn’t have her _first time_ while you guys were lost in your heat, now could we?” He finished, smirking at you and dodging away from you as you went to swat him.

It’s quiet enough to hear a pin drop in the room, and you think your face might actually explode, it feels so hot. You suck in a breath before you turn and face the others.

Most of them look surprised. Some of them are blushing, just like you; Red, Sans, Stretch, and Papyrus. But Cash gets this huge shit eating grin on his face, and you can see Rus smirking in the corner.

“Oh ho! Virgin, huh?” Cash says, trying to hide the chuckle in his voice. “You know, I could always help you fix that…”

You stand there, dumbstruck and embarrassed, as Sans reaches over and slaps Cash across the back of his skull, which only makes him laugh. Wine looks contemplative as his eyes settle softly on you, and Rus gives you a wink as he quickly snakes a tongue out to lick at his teeth.

“O-OH!” Papyrus says, fidgeting a little. “W-WELL…I’M GLAD YOU WERE ABLE TO TAKE HER SOMEPLACE….ERM….SAFER!” Papyrus says nervously, obviously trying to fill the silence. Blue, who you would’ve thought would be blushing like the others, actually has…a strange look on his face. Almost like he’s hiding a grin. You take a deep breath and bury your face in your hands for a moment.

“The fuck, why’d you have to say that out in fronta all of us? Ya embarrassed her!” Red says grouchily to Peach.

“The more you know!” Peach says in a little song, and you let out an embarrassed squeal, making him, Cash, and Rus all chuckle.

“I-I’m, you know what, I’m just gonna…I’m going to my room now,” you stammer out. “Um, Peach, thank you, and tell your brother thanks too.” And without another look at anyone, you flee down the hallway into your room before slamming the door and snatching a pillow off of your bed and screaming into it.

 _This is it, I’m going to be the first person ever to die of embarrassment_ you think to yourself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You don’t end up seeing Edge for the next couple of days. Black had made his appearance and had chosen, apparently, to act as if nothing strange had happened. Which you were actually ok with, because it saved you another round of embarrassment. Peach and Plum had left, but not before giving you huge hugs and begging you to keep in contact. As embarrassed as you were, you had to admit that you were going to miss them. Talking with them about more intimate things was actually pretty easy, and you’d learned a lot from them so far.

It was on one of the weekends, you were lounging on the couch next to Stretch and Sans while they watched some new show on Netflix. You’d been more than happy to get them set up with an account, that way they had more things to watch than the rerun MTT shows. Blue and Papyrus had gone out for a midday jog, and you weren’t too sure where the others were at the moment. Your oxygen was stretched out loosely on the floor so no one would trip on it as you used it.

Your peaceful almost dozing was interrupted by your phone buzzing in your hoody pocket. You pulled it out to see a new text message, but….the sender was a number you didn’t know. You frowned slightly as you pulled up the messages, wondering who it was, but when you read the message, you felt your heart skip a beat.

**Unknown: Enjoying being a whore to those filthy monsters? You know you cant hide from me.**

Your hand shakes slightly as you close the message and put the phone back in your pocket, trying to act normal. There’s just a small bit of tension, like magic in the air, but you cant tell where it’s coming from, too stressed to even try. Stretch looks over at you, noticing you weren’t back to dozing.

“Everything alright, honey?” he asks. You nod and put a smile on your face as best you can.

“Yep! All good,” you tell him, and he raises an eyebrow at you. You turn and face the TV again, noticing that Sans is asleep, having slumped over against the arm rest. After a moment you fake stretching and go to get up, so you don’t have to keep pretending and have a chance to think of what to do.

But just as you get up and go to step around Stretch, his arms shoot out and wrap around your waist, pulling you down onto his lap so you’re essentially straddling him. You give out a soft yelp and try to squirm away, but he looks you dead in the eyes as he holds onto you.

“Did I ever tell you that I can tell when someone is lying?” he says quietly, and you freeze, trying to come up with an excuse. He raises an eyebrow bone at you, and your mouth snaps closed. “What’s going on hon?”

You debate internally if he’s telling the truth and if you can bluff, but the game of Bullshit comes to mind and you decide that in this case, honesty might be the best policy. You sigh and he lets you slide off of his lap back onto the couch as you bring your phone out of your pocket. You bring up the text from the unknown number and hand the phone to him with shaking hands. When he reads it, his eyes get tense and you can almost feel the anger coming off of him.

“C’mere,” he says gruffly, putting your phone in his pocket and pulling you against him in a side hug. “Let me do some tinkering, we’ll get these to stop, ok? You don’t worry about it.”

You nod softly against him, breathing in his warm, sweet scent as you try to calm down. He pulls back and tilts your head up so you have to look him in the eyes.

“We got this, alright? I promise, you’re safe here,” he tells you, and you give him a small smile. He pats your cheek softly before he gets up. “Let me go talk to a couple of the guys. We’ll get this figured out.”

You sigh as you watch Stretch leave and hear him plodding up the stairs. Sans is just starting to snore softly, making you giggle, and you pull down a blanket from the back of the couch to cover him. He smiles a little in his sleep, and for an instant you forget Stretch has your phone because you reached into your pocket to take a picture, only to realize you don’t have it. With a sigh, you make your way into the kitchen. Baking always made you feel a little better, so why not?

You’re just taking your third batch of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven and setting them onto the counter when you feel a presence with you in the kitchen. Used to the skeletons and their ability to sneak up on you, it doesn’t startle you like it once used to. You turn around after getting the cookies set to cool and you see Edge standing just a bit away from you. He isn’t looking at you, just standing there, softly tapping his foot with his arms crossed in front of his chest. You know he’s probably still embarrassed, so you pick up one of the cooled cookies and hold it out towards him.

“Taste test..?” you ask softly, which finally gets him to look at you. He hesitates for a moment before he reaches out, his gloves fingers lightly grazing yours as he takes it from you and eats it. He hums a little before clearing his throat.

“These are….definitely adequate,” he replies, and you giggle softly, knowing that for him, that’s a compliment of the highest order.

“Yay, thank you, Edge!” you say, giving him your brightest smile, and you see just the slightest bits of red dust his cheekbones. You go to turn back towards the cookies when he clears his throat again, and you look at him questioningly. He takes a deep breath before standing straight with his arms at his sides.

“HUMAN. I HAVE HEARD FROM THE LITTLEST SANS THAT YOU HAVE AGREED TO GO ON A DATE WITH HIM,” he says, and you nod, not quite getting where this is going. “YOU WILL ACCOMPANY ME ON A DATE AS WELL, AT A LATER, UNDISCLOSED TIME.”

You blink, staring at him for a moment, before you smile a little, blushing. “Edge…are you….are you asking me on a date?” you question quietly. When he doesn’t respond, staring at you expectantly, you step forwards and catch him in a quick hug. He doesn’t tense up, but he doesn’t return it, either. _PROGRESS!_ You think to yourself.

“I’d love to,” you tell him as you step back, and you almost see the corners of his mouth rise.

“YES. WELL. A DATE WITH SOMEONE AS MAGNICIFCENT AS MYSELF IS A RARE OCCURANCE. YOU ARE VERY LUCKY INDEED,” he says before he turns and leaves the kitchen. You cant help the chuckle that comes out of your mouth, but after a moment it’s replaced by a frown.

 _Ive already had a date with Sans, and now have one with Blue and Edge. And I’ve been kissed by multiple of them…_ you think to yourself, chewing at a nail nervously. _Am I…being too flirtatious..? Is he right about me..? Ive never been one for all the dating and romance, but with them, it’s…different. I’ve never felt this way before…._

You aren’t sure how long you stand there leaning against the counter worrying and stressing, but the doorbell ringing snaps you out of it. You push off from the counter and make your way to the front door, grinning when you see Sans still zonked out on the couch. You pull the door open, expecting maybe some mail delivery or something, but are instead greeted by….

Two new skeletons??

You have to look up from your short stature into the face of the first one. He’s wearing tight pants, a white sweater, and a leather crop top jacket. But his face doesn’t look quite like the others; it’s longer, and it has what look like two very smooth cracks! One coming down and meeting his right eye, and one running down from his left eye.

The one standing next to him looks very similar, cracks and all, but is taller and wearing a long duster-like coat and glasses. There are suitcases sitting on the step with them, and the one in front gets a slow smile on his face as he looks at you.

“O-oh, um, hello!” you say, holding a hand out towards them. “Sans is napping on the couch right now, sorry. I don’t think I’ve met you two before!”

“Well, the pleasure is all mine…” the first one says, taking your hand in his and bringing it up to his teeth for a soft kiss. “I heard the rumors, but it appears they greatly underestimated your beauty.” His voice is so deep and silky, but not as gruff as some of the others.

You gape and blush, before giggling nervously and pulling your hand back. The taller one puts a hand on the shorter one’s shoulder.

“Brother stop, you’re embarrassing her,” he says before he bows slightly towards you. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Ms…?”

“Oh! Sorry! I’m Y/N, it’s great to meet you too!” you say, stepping to the side so they can come in.

The taller one smiles at you warmly as he picks up the suitcases, while the smaller one saunters into the house.

“I’m Aster, and that is my brother, G,” Aster says to you. You’re about to ask something when he suddenly sets the suitcases down, and you flinch back as his hand comes up towards your cannula.

“Ah…sorry,” he apologizes, taking his hand back. “Call it professional curiosity; I work as a doctor.”

“Oh…” you say, before you step into the living room. You wanted to let him sleep, but you figured Sans would probably want to know about the new guests. You shake his shoulder gently, and after a bit of mumbling and groaning, he cracks one eye at you.

“Wassamatter..?” he says sleepily, and you give him a strained smile.

“Um, we have some new guests…” you say quietly. Much to your surprise, Sans wakes up instantly before flipping the blanket off and standing, as if he’s ready for a fight. But when he sees who it is, he relaxes with a lazy grin.

“G, Aster, good to see you guys!” he says, moving over to shake hands with G, and then Aster. “You’ve met Y/N?”

Aster nods and G gives you a smile and a wink.

“Yep, sure did. She’s even prettier than you described,” he says to Sans, and you see a slight blue blush cross Sans’ cheeks, while yours flush red. When G sees your furious blushing, he lets out a pleased laugh.

“Oh man, this is going to be so much fun,” he laughs as he, Aster and Sans head towards the den. You stay in the living room, staring after them, before you let yourself slink down onto the couch.

 _How many of them are there???_ You wonder to yourself.


	14. The Pressure Is Building

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some serious talk with G and Aster about Souls, And some plans are made that have you both excited and very nervous!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one's a bit short, but I'm going to make it up to you all by making the next couple chapters very good, and long, I promise! Things are gonna get....steamy, just you wait ;-) I cant wait to write the next few!!
> 
> Also I want to give a huge shout out to Gorexilla on Tumblr for being an amazing soundboard and putting up with my bouncing ideas off of them, they've been so awesome and so much help! AND their fan art is SO GOOD TOO!! Thank you so much, You're amazing!!

It turns out that G and Aster would be staying somewhat permanently; they’d been traveling overseas but were back to settle down, and were actually going to have their own smaller house built out on some of the back property. So for now, they’d be staying in the guest house!

G was turning out to be….quite the flirtatious handful, but you and Aster had actually been getting along quite well. It was one of the days while you were out helping clean the guest house and Aster was just sitting with you, enjoying your company.

“It’s so cool that you’re a doctor, with your magic and everything I bet you’re able to do so many other things that humans cant do!” you were telling him as you folded extra sheets and blankets. He chuckled as he sipped his cup of tea, watching you curiously.

“It definitely helps to be able to diagnose. You’d be surprised how often all it takes is being able to check someone’s soul to be able to see what would help,” he explains, and you stop your folding to look at him.

“Wait, you can see someone’s soul..?” you ask, and he raises an eyebrow bone at you.

“Of course! Have my alternates not taught you much of souls and magic?” he questions, and you shake your head before excitedly sitting down across from him.

“No, they haven’t, but I’ve wanted to ask! I have so many questions!” your words come spilling out excitedly, which draws a deep laugh from Aster. “Can you see my soul?? Can *I* see my soul?”

He sets his drink down and pushes it aside before he stands up, takes your hand, and drags you gently over to the small couch. You sit down facing each other, you practically hopping with excited energy.

“Ok, so this might feel strange at first,” Aster explains, and you nod. “But I want you to try and relax. The more you fight against it, the harder it can be, alright?”

You take a deep breath as he closes his eyes for a moment. Then there’s the feeling of tingling magic in the air, and he holds his arms out, palms up in front of him as he cups your palms in his. You frown as you feel a slight tugging sensation, and of course your first instinct is to shy away from it.

“Relax…you’re safe here..” Aster tells you softly, and you take another deep breath as you try and force yourself to relax and not fight back against the magic tugging at you. After a moment, there’s an almost shifting feeling before there’s a PING, and the world turns grey all around you, as if all color has been leeched out.

But your eyes are transfixed on the literal heart that is glowing and beating, floating in your palms.

“Oh…wow…” you breathe out, and Aster gives you a big smile. You can feel the warmth coming off of it, but you frown sadly as you take in the other details of the poor heart in your hands. It’s got lots of cracks, lacing in from the outside as if something tried to crush it. It’s got large bruises stretched across it, and a huge crack that goes down almost the entire center, but looks as if it’s been filled in by time.

“….it’s….it’s so beat up…” you say softly, and Aster gives your hands a slight squeeze. He frowns slightly as he looks at your soul, as if trying to see something. His face becomes more perplexed when he apparently doesn’t find what he was looking for, and he slowly reaches a hand out to hover just inches away from your floating heart. But as he does, your heart seems to glow even brighter, and you look at Aster questioningly. He just smiles and shakes his head.

“Resonance,” he begins to explain as you slowly start to spin the heart around so you can look at it from a different angle. “It happens when a heart is around another that it’s got a natural bond with. Our kind call them Soul Mates.”

“Wait, what?” you say, startled, and there’s a whooshing feeling as your heart rushes back into your chest and the world comes back into color. You rub at your chest where your soul went back in, as if that will help it settle back into place. “Soul mates? Isn’t that just…a fantasy thing?”

Aster laughs lightly, scratching the back of his neck, and there’s almost a slight blush on his cheekbones.

“W-well, with monsters, it’s actually a real thing. We have a true soul mate, and when you find them, your souls have a sort of resonance with each other,” he says, and you raise an eyebrow at him.

“So…you’re trying to say… I’m your soul mate?” you ask slowly, but before Aster can respond, G comes strolling in with a cocky grin.

“Technically yes and no, Darlin’,” he says, snatching one of the chairs and spinning it backwards before sitting down and propping his elbow up on the back of it. “So, you know we’re all technically alternate versions of Sans and Papyrus, right?”

“Yeah….that you all came through Sans’ machine because of an accident…” you say, and G nods at you.

“Exactly! But, in THIS world, Sans and Papyrus are the originals. So, you’re Sans’ or Papyrus’ soul mate in this reality, right? But because we’re all technically a Sans or Papyrus, we all feel that tug, that resonance with you, because we’re all technically the same. You understand?”

You feel your head spinning and you shake it, trying to clear your thoughts. You put your head in your hands and you can hear Aster arguing with G, getting after him about how he shouldn’t have said anything because it was too much, too soon for you to deal with.

 _Soul mates are real??_ You think to yourself. _And not only are they real, but I’m technically a soul mate to them all because they’re all the same person from different realities? How is this even real???_

“Y/N? Are you alright?” you hear Aster say, and you feel a hand on your shoulder, shaking you slightly. You look up at them both, before giving a small, tired smile.

“Yeah, I’m good, it’s just….that’s a lot to take in,” you tell him, and G lets out a laugh as Aster rubs a hand down your back reassuringly. “So…would that maybe explain why I feel so drawn to you all, when normally I’m not interested in dating or being with anyone..?”

G gives you a lopsided smile and a wink. “Oh, so you feel drawn to me, huh?” he jokes, before Aster smacks him across the back of his skull.

“Yes, that would explain it,” he tells you, and a part of you feels…relieved. _It isn’t just me being too flirty or anything…there’s a reason I feel so attracted and drawn to them!!_ You think happily, feeling more carefree than you have for quite a while. “I’m so sorry we dumped that on you all at once, Y/N. It appears there’s a lot that hasn’t been explained to you just yet.”

You give a small laugh before you pat Aster’s hand. “Oh no, it’s fine! Honestly, I’m glad you guys told me. I prefer things to be out in the open, instead of being kept in the dark. It may take a while for me to process, but…I’m really glad I know now. So thank you!”

You spend the rest of the day just absent mindedly going about the rest of the chores, lost in your own mind as you ponder the fact that soul mates are real, and the strange situation you seem to have gotten yourself into with, apparently, a whole house full of soul mates.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just as Stretch had promised, he and Rus had managed to switch your phone number so that whoever had sent you the message couldn’t again. He’d made sure to give it back to you, while also showing you some “new and improved” aspects he’d put into it, like faster data and some privacy apps to keep you protected.

You were in the living room reading a book when you heard someone coming down the stairs. You looked up to see Wine, and you give him a warm smile that he returns as you put your book down.

“Hello, Wine!” you greet him, and he steps into the living room with you.

“Hello, Y/N,” he says in that soft, deep voice. “I have a question for you, if you have a moment..?”

“Of course!” you say, setting your book aside and giving him your full attention. “What do you need?”

There’s a glint of something…almost mischievous in his eyes as he grins and sits down next to you.

“As you know, I work for a branch of the Royal Guard. We’re approaching Freedom Day in the next month, but before that they like to hold a sort of…dance, to get everyone who works in my department together for a night of…frivolity,” he says, waving a hand as if he doesn’t care much for that kind of thing. “Normally, I prefer not to indulge in such things, but it occurred to me that it would be a perfect opportunity to take you out on a date…if you would be so kind as to attend as my date mate for the evening.”

You blink for a moment as he looks at you, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. You feel a blush creep onto your cheeks and you place a hand to your chest.

“Wine….are you asking me to go to the ball with you..?” you ask, making him chuckle slightly. He takes your hand in his and brings it up to his teeth, before looking you in the eyes and pressing a soft kiss to it.

“If my lady would agree to,” he says softly, and you cant help the girly giggle that escapes you.

“I would love to!” you tell him, and his eyes sparkle as he sets your hand back down. “Um…I’m not sure I have anything fancy enough though…”

“Let me worry about that,” he tells you, before giving you a wink as he stands up. “It will be this Friday; It’s a bit of a drive from here, so I’ve went ahead and rented a hotel room, so we have somewhere to rest, seeing as it will be quite late when the ball is over.”

You feel a heat creeping up your face as he gives you a small bow. “I eagerly await our date, my dear,” he says before leaving the room.

 _Fancy ball? Hotel room after??_ Your brain kicks into overdrive and you scramble up off the couch and dash to your room, digging your phone out of your pocket. Today’s Sunday, which means you only have five days to prepare!! You turn on some music, lock your door, and pull up your contacts before finding who you’re looking for and slamming the dial button.

After just a couple of rings, a sultry voice answers the phone.

“Heya Sugar! What can I do for you today?” his voice purrs through the phone.

“PLUM!” You screech as quietly as you can through the phone. “I need your help!”

“What’s wrong?” Plum says, voice shifting into protective mode. You can hear Peach mumbling in the background.

“Wine’s taking me on a super fancy date, and I guess he got a hotel room too!” you hiss into the phone. It’s quiet for just a moment before you hear laughter erupting through the phone. “PLUM! DO NOT LAUGH AT ME, THIS IS SERIOUS, WHAT DO I DO!”

“Oh Darlin, I think you know what to do-“ you hear Peach yelling in the background before there’s muffled laughter and Plum comes back on.

“Alright calm down, Sugar, it’ll be alright,” Plum says, and you flop down onto your bed and bury your head into a pillow.

“But I’m not…I’ve never…what am I even supposed to..?” you stammer out, thinking frantically. If he’s taking you to a hotel room after…that typically means something special is going to happen…..

“Oh boy, ok, tell you what,” Plum speaks through the phone. “How about we come on back for a couple days, and we can help give you some…pointers and advice? Just in case things go the way you’re secretly hoping they will.”

You give an embarrassed shriek into your pillow and you hear Plum and Peach cackling through the phone.

“YES PLEASE,” you finally say, your face burning red. They promise to be there within the next day, and you anxiously await their arrival, and your upcoming date.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FANART AAAHHHHHH
> 
> Both by the AMAZING Gorexilla from Tumblr:
> 
> https://gorexilla.tumblr.com/post/611305766974078976/show-chapter-archive
> 
> https://gorexilla.tumblr.com/post/612367321111150592/a-little-scene-from-chapter-13-from-bones?is_related_post=1

**Author's Note:**

> Also aAAHHHHH MY FIRST FANART!!  
> The amazing gorexilla on Tumblr did an awesome drawing Reader getting all flustered by the boys and their flirting, and it’s perfect!!! https://gorexilla.tumblr.com/post/611305766974078976/show-chapter-archive


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